RIORDAN A MODEL FOR GRASS-ROOTS CAMPAIGNING.

Byline: Mark F. Dodd

My memories of Richard Riordan in the trenches of neighborhood politics as he walked ``from Sylmar to San Pedro'' in the spring of 1993 were jolted when I read, to my disbelief, Rick Orlov's claim that ``none has dared in more than 40 years in this city (to) build a grass-roots campaign.'' (Tipoff, May 1, Daily News).

I hasten to remind observers of Los Angeles city politics to refresh their memory of then-candidate Richard Riordan beginning in early 1993, who led a volunteer-driven crusade, crisscrossing the Valley and to all corners of this rambling, diverse city.

Riordan started his grass-roots movement by gathering voters' signatures to place his unknown name (2 percent name recognition at the time) on the ballot for the April 1993 primary election.

One of the strategic moves set forth by this first Riordan campaign wasto develop a volunteer base and build a variety of coalitions from which to draw support and coalesce a majority to win.

Volunteer precinct walks, phone banks, house meetings, yard sign drills, weekly Saturday rallies, mid-week team meetings and get-out-the-vote efforts are what mobilized an army of upward of 1,500 Riordan supporters to knock on doors to turn out an avalanche of voters to cast their ballots to ``Turn L.A. Around.''

In addition, one main, and perhaps pivotal, ingredient to this strategywas that Riordan devoted at least two to three hours a day, if not more, five to six days a week, to campaigning at the grass-roots level, door-to-door, with local volunteers at his side pounding the pavement right up to Election Day.

Riordan was in over 60 precincts in 70 days listening to voters on their sidewalks and in their front yards and sharing his reform message to restore Los Angeles to greatness by reforming city government.

As the field staff person who accompanied Riordan throughout the city to fulfill his pledge to walk ``from Sylmar to San Pedro,'' I can recall that on many occasions members of the local press accompanied us.

As the campaign gained momentum, media interest grew to include reporters from radio news stations and television camera crews, including the national media like CNN and even several different Los Angeles Daily News reporters.

So I want to set the record straight that if indeed the 2001 campaign for mayor of Los Angeles will be fought in the trenches of neighborhood politics, that Rick Orlov, Joe Cerrell and Joel Wachs need only to go back seven years to see an election campaign that was successfully built onthe grass-roots level that enabled Richard Riordan to go to City Hall for two terms and to ``Turn L.A. Around.''

This indeed is a campaign worth emulating, if one is seeking to win the mayor's race in 2001.