TIPOFF; RIORDAN A KEY TO FUND-RAISING FOR DEMOCRATS @B BY RICK ORLOV.

President Clinton apparently had a lot to say to the bickering billionaires behind the effort to stage the Democratic National Convention this August - and none of it was polite.

Concerned about continuing reports of the rift among the leaders, Clinton made a point for them to stop their pouting and get on with the job of raising the final $8 million to $10 million needed by the host committee to meet its promise to the Democratic National Committee.

In particular, Clinton called on food magnate Ron Burkle to get more involved and urged him to call on one of the state's top fund-raisers - Gov. Gray Davis - to help out with the effort, according to officials familiar with last weekend's discussions.

Burkle has hosted a number of events for Clinton at his estate, including one featuring singer Barbra Streisand.

``Part of the problem has been that these are big money guys, and they figure that once they give, their job is over,'' said one local official. ``They just expect someone else to do the rest of the work. The problem with that is they are the ones who know the people and can ask for the money.''

The money for the convention is also the reason Mayor Richard Riordan is getting more directly involved in the planning for the convention.

While they have come up with a silly cover story about the mayor helping in direct planning such as assigning state delegations to hotels, the real reason is to help ride herd on the money folks to make sure they follow through on their promises.

``No one expects the mayor to get involved in little details,'' said one source familiar with his new involvement. ``That would be a waste of his time and ours. We need the mayor to play a strong role.''

For his part, Riordan is motivated to make sure the convention goes off not just smoothly, but somewhat spectacularly because of the embarrassment suffered during the millennium celebrations.

The mayor did not get involved earlier because of all his political activities last year, from helping elect a new majority on the Board of Education to passing a new City Charter.

One other factor that prevented him from taking a more upfront role was uncertainty about how, as a Republican, he would be received leading the convention efforts for Democrats. If Riordan knows how to do one thing, it is raise money.

The fund-raiser he held this last week for his Coalition for Kids raised some $600,000, and advisers say he now has more than $750,000 in the bank as he prepares for the 2001 school board elections. Last year, the committee spent some $2 million on the four school board races to take control of the Board of Education.

One incumbent not expected to be in trouble is school board member Valerie Fields. She was very much in evidence at the event last Thursday at Riordan's Brentwood home, attendees said.

The endorsement that Harbor Commission President Ted Stein gave last week, backing former rival City Attorney James Hahn for mayor in 2001, drew an unusually harsh response from a competing campaign consultant.

Ace Smith, who is overseeing the campaign of businessman Steve Soboroff, called Stein a ``failed wannabe politician.''

``If that's the case,'' Stein remarked later, ``then it's partly because Ace Smith is a failed consultant.'' Smith worked on Stein's unsuccessful 1997 challenge of Hahn, doing opposition research.

However, there is some good political news in the Stein family. Daughter Jennifer, 21, a senior at Stanford University, was elected as a delegate for the presidential campaign of former Sen. Bill Bradley. In 1992, she was the country's youngest Democratic delegate for President Clinton.