TIPOFF : RIORDAN GETS UNWANTED HELP FROM AN AIDE.

Byline: RICK ORLOV

MAYOR Richard Riordan has a flair for putting himself in uncomfortable situations so you'd think the last thing he needs is help from his staff.

But that's what happened last week when hizzoner put himself in the awkward situation of meeting with gardeners angry over the leaf blower ordinance.

Riordan made it worse munching a hamburger while chatting with the hunger-striking gardeners, setting his City Hall critics atwitter.

Just as the fuss was about to die down, however, Riordan's director of scheduling and special events, Bob Kurkjian, decided to get involved.

Hearing radio station 106.7-KROQ personalities Kevin and Bean criticize Riordan over the incident, the ever-loyal Kurkjian decided to call in to defend the mayor.

Kurkjian obviously doesn't listen much to Kevin and Bean and wound up admitting the mayor was insensitive for eating in front of the men who were in the fifth day of a hunger strike.

``You'll never find Dick Riordan on a hunger strike,'' he added.

Kurkjian also announced the mayor would sign the blower ban - several hours before the mayor had scheduled a meeting to try to work out a compromise to appease the gardeners and critics of the leaf blowers.

But, in the Riordan spirit of it being easier to get forgiveness than permission, Kurkjian received only a mild reprimand.

One of the immediate beneficiaries of the federal judge's decision to strike down Proposition 208 and lifting its low donor limits is Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.

Davis is known as an indefatigable fund-raiser and he acknowledged last week that he planned to make calls to the long list of supporters he has developed over the years to help him in the campaign against businessmanAl Checchi.

The lieutenant governor said he now expected to raise and spend between $6 million and $8 million for the primary election - about double what he would have been able to raise and spend under campaign limits.

But it is not coming in quickly.

Moments after Davis met with reporters, Checchi's campaign manager, Darry Sragow, was lamenting about how his campaign didn't know what to do with people who want to contribute to Checchi.

``Our plan all along was to be self-financed and we have done that so far,'' Sragow said. ``But we don't know how to handle cases where people come up with checks and say they want to support us.''

Garry South, Davis' campaign manager, had a ready response as he listened to Sragow.

``Tell them to send the checks to us,'' South said.

Katherine Mader, the hard-charging inspector general for the Los Angeles Police Commission, has ruffled some feathers on the panel in the past with her blunt style.

So there has been a lot of speculation at Parker Center and City Hall about what was behind a decision by commissioners to have Mader report to the commission's executive director rather than directly to the commission.

The reorganization comes just weeks after the panel investigated charges that Mader illegally gave a judge the personnel documents of a police officer. The commission ended its probe saying it stands by Mader.

Both Mader and commission representatives deny that the reorganization is meant as a slight, saying it is simply following the City Charter, which calls for the inspector general to report to the executive director.

Asked whether she is concerned about the change, Mader said: ``Not in the slightest.''

MEDIA WATCH: In-and-out at the L.A. Times:

Out: Carol Stogsdill, former senior editor and vice president who lost out in a series of recent newsroom wars, is heading to the consulting firm of Fleishman-Hillard Inc., working on public affairs contracts.

Out: National political reporter Ron Brownstein, who accepted what is believed to be a better than $200,000 a year - plus book contract - offer from U.S. News and World Report.

Daily News Staff Writer Patrick McGreevy contributed to this column.