MAYOR PRESSES DRIVE FOR CHARTER REFORM.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Flanked by boxes of petitions carrying 240,000 signatures, Mayor Richard Riordan called on Los Angeles residents Thursday to join the drive for an elected charter reform commission with just a week left before the deadline.

Riordan and Studio City attorney David Fleming said during a news conference on the steps of City Hall that they still want more signatures to provide a safe cushion above the 197,000 signatures needed by Oct. 30 to qualify the measure for the ballot.

``I urge voters . . . not to let apathy or overconfidence stop us now,'' Riordan said. ``In order for real citizen reform to be guaranteed, we need the support and participation of each and every city resident.''

Fleming said the 240,000 signatures collected so far represents a larger number of voters than cast ballots in the 1991 and 1995 city elections.

Riordan's initiative would create a commission elected by the voters that would have power to put reforms directly on the ballot without revision by the City Council.

The council has appointed a competing commission that will recommend charter reforms that can be vetoed or modified by the council before being placed on the ballot.

Riordan also announced that a group of citizens who support the initiative likely will go to court soon to ask for a ruling that would allow the initiative's commission to be elected by council districts, rather than on an at-large basis as state law might require.

The federal Voting Rights Act appears to conflict with state law by prohibiting elections that dilute the vote of minorities, as many at-large elections have been found to do.

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter criticized the mayor's initiative effort as an attempt to grab more power.

``People will sign anything that's got an attack on politicians on it,'' she said.

Riordan said it will be up to the elected commission to decide how to provide more decisiveness and accountability in City Hall and whether more power should be shifted to the mayor as a balance on the power the council now wields.

Galanter also criticized the initiative campaign for refusing to disclose how much the mayor has contributed to the signature-gathering effort, which employed many paid signature-gatherers.

``Is this a special interest petition, or is it not,'' she said.

Political consultant Rick Taylor said the finances of the campaign likely will be disclosed next week but that the campaign so far has spent less than $500,000.

Fleming said 2,000 people have contributed to the campaign so far.

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