RIORDAN-BACKED CHARTER DRIVE RAISES $1.35 MILLION : CRITICS SAY CORPORATE FUNDING OPPOSES PUBLIC AGENDA.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Mayor Richard Riordan and other backers of a charter reform initiative on the April 8 ballot reported raising $1.35 million as of Dec. 31, with $556,000 collected to finance a slate of candidates for an elected charter reform commission.

Opponents of the initiative blasted the huge war chest and the fact that much of it was financed by large corporate interests, saying it belies the mayor's claim that his is a people's initiative.

``I'm not surprised,'' Councilwoman Ruth Galanter said. ``It's another example of what happens when you have the downtown business establishment running the city.''

The council has created an advisory commission to recommend changes to the 72-year-old charter, but Riordan and Studio City attorney David Fleming qualified an initiative to create a separate elected panel, saying that is the only way to get true reform.

Riordan, who contributed $575,000 to a fund to qualify the initiative, was unavailable to directly respond to the criticism, according to aides, but he said in a statement that the initiative and election will give voters a chance to decide what kind of charter they want.

``Angelenos are ready for frank discussions about the need to modernize our charter,'' Riordan said. ``My investment may have begun the process, but it now rightly has a life of its own. I hope to see Angelenos in every community engaged in building a new vision of Los Angeles for the next century.''

Riordan's personal contribution was part of $789,000 raised by Citizens to Turn L.A. Around, one of three committees set up for charter reform by the initiative backers.

The Citizens committee financed the petition drive and court effort to get the measure on the ballot. Contributors included businessman Eli Broad, who gave $15,000; Spanish-language television network owner A. Jerrold Perenchio, who gave $50,000; and Studio City attorney and initiative co-sponsor David Fleming, who gave $25,000.

The initiative backers also formed a separate committee called Yes on Charter Reform to campaign for the initiative's passage. The committee only reported $6,900 spent before Dec. 31 but has raised about $600,000 since then that it doesn't yet have to report, one source said.

Fleming said the committee will ``explain to voters that the people, not the politicians, must control this process. To move charter reform to the next stage, the voters must decide to create the elected commission.''

The third committee formed by the initiative backers is Citizens for a Better Los Angeles, which has so far raised $556,500 specifically to provide independent expenditures in support of a slate of candidates endorsed by Riordan.

Contributors who each gave $25,000 to that committee include Galpin Motors owner Bert Boeckmann, High Desert Medical Group of Lancaster, Public Storage Inc. President B. Wayne Hughes, American Golf Corp. President David Price, Franklin Mint President Stewart Resnick, Saban Entertainment, the Walt Disney Co. and Wells Fargo.

Broadcaster Perenchio, a partner with Chartwell Partners, contributed $100,000 to that committee.

The committee will fund a slate of candidates for about 12 of the 15 council districts, which means there would be $46,000 available for each district.

Fleming said the mayor will make a final decision on endorsements after the period for filing nominating petitions closes.

Council members and city employee unions are planning to field their own candidates.

The financing available for the mayor's candidates will likely dwarf money put into campaigns by neighborhood and union candidates, said Brian D'Arcy, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18.

``We're going to do grass roots like we always do,'' D'Arcy said.

D'Arcy questioned the financing of the mayor's slate by corporate interests.

``It certainly smacks of what everybody hated about the old Los Angeles, the gray faces in the shadows, the corporate interests that run the city,'' D'Arcy said.

``If this is really a movement of neighborhood empowerment as the mayor says, why isn't he raising money among the people who live in those neighborhoods?'' he said.

State senator and mayoral candidate Tom Hayden said he plans to file a complaint with the Ethics Commission charging that at least one of the charter campaign committees is controlled by the mayor, so it should be limited to $1,000-or-less contributions, as in the mayor's race.

``The mayor is guilty of exploiting this loophole in violation of the spirit and intent of the law and of collecting over $1 million in special-interest money from corporations who need favors from his office,'' Hayden said.

However, Fleming said Hayden is unfair to criticize corporate helping to finance the campaigns.