RIORDAN BLASTS CCRI AS DIVISIVE.

Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer

After months of pressure to take a stand, Mayor Richard Riordan came out Friday against the California Civil Rights Initiative, calling it divisive and placing in jeopardy to the gains made by minorities and women.

If approved by voters, the Nov. 5 ballot measure would dismantle government affirmative action programs.

``CCRI is not the solution, for no single pronouncement or edict will level the playing field in our city or state,'' Riordan told more than 250 members of the Minority Business Opportunity Committee meeting at the Universal Hilton.

``I oppose it because it is divisive. It takes one of our greatest assets, our diversity, and tries to turn it into a liability,'' he said. ``It could also erode workplace protection for women.''

The Republican mayor has been under heavy pressure from supporters and opponents alike to take a position on the initiative, which has been designated as Proposition 209.

The City Council has gone on record several times in opposition to the measure and several members had called on Riordan to join them.

Sunday, the mayor was booed after telling a boisterous assembly of community organizations at the Sports Arena that for him to take a stand would be divisive.

Riordan said Friday that he had done more thinking and analyzed the measure and decided to come out against it because of the potential harm it could cause to organizations such as the Minority Business Opportunity Committee.

Riordan, with help from the federal government, created the Minority Business Opportunities Committee in 1994 to help minority and women contractors impacted by cuts in the defense industry.

Since its inception, officials said the committee has created $2 billion in new business.

In his remarks, Riordan said he remained opposed to quotas, preferences and set-asides and that he is dissatisfied with many aspects of affirmative action.

``We must have the courage to point out and correct these faults in the current system, to look to the future and learn from the mistake of the past,'' the mayor said. ``We must respect the right of everyone to compete in our society, the right of each and all to feel empowered, to be empowered.''

Before announcing his position, Riordan called Republican Gov. Pete Wilson to inform him of his decision. Opposition to affirmative action was a keystone of Wilson's short-lived presidential campaign.

Wilson spokesman Sean Walsh said the governor tried to persuade Riordan not to take any action.

``He made a strong case to the mayor,'' Walsh said. ``The governor believes the mayor is mistaken. I don't know what constituencies the mayor is trying to play to, but this is an issue whose time has come.''

Wilson released a statement lated in the day criticizing Riordan as being contradictory.

``To say that you are opposed to preferences, quotas and set-asides - all the tools of reverse discrimination - but oppose the California Civil Rights Initiative, which would prohibit them, is double talk,'' Wilson said. ``It's a contradiction in terms.

``It is the unfair favoritism of preferences, quotas and set-asides that are divisive,'' Wilson said. ``To say you oppose CCRI because it's divisive is like saying you oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because its protections against discrimination will offend racists. That does not make sense.''

But Riordan said the intensity of debate over the CCRI has clouded any effort to have reasonable debate.

``The rhetoric is charged, divisive and counterproductive,'' Riordan said. ``Those who support CCRI are wrongly labeled `racists' and those who criticize are wrongly accused of encouraging reverse discrimination. We have to end the demonizing of the two sides,'' he said.

Cecelia Barragan, chairwoman of Valley Organized in Community Efforts, said she was pleased Riordan had decided to take a stand against the measure and believes the Sunday assembly might have played a role in his decision.

Barragan said Riordan did not receive a great welcome at the assembly.

``But, we're very excited he is doing what he is doing now,'' she said. ``It's the right thing for him to do, but when you look at how he has supported us on other issues, I'm not that surprised.''

However, his decision seemed to stun politicians on both sides of the issue.

Councilman Nate Holden, who is also against CCRI, said Riordan was responding to the politics of a city where most elected officials oppose the measure.

``He's just being a weather-vane politician,'' Holden said. ``He can sense which way the winds are blowing in the city. But, I suppose, better late than never.''

Jennifer Nelson, spokeswoman for the CCRI campaign, said she believed Riordan was attempting to placate the City Council.

``They have been so hung up with CCRI that everything they do - even if it doesn't pertain to preferences - they twist,'' Nelson said. ``Certainly, the people of the city are not in agreement with the City Council's position.''

The California Republican Party issued a statement critical of the mayor.

``It appears that Mayor Riordan is out of step with the majority of Californians who overwhelmingly favor CCRI,'' spokeswoman Victoria Herrington said, citing polls showing the measure gaining widespread support. ``We, as a state party, are fully committed to the victory of CCRI.''

Riordan said his decision was not political, but he recognized the political impact.

``I got a lot of advice to be neutral,'' Riordan said. ``This is a subject I've studied to death. I felt as mayor of everybody in the city, I owed it to everybody to come out on this.''