TIPOFF : DEMOCRATS SHRUG CCRI'S APPEAL POWER.

Byline: Rick Orlov

DEMOCRATS say that despite the best efforts of Gov. Pete Wilson, Proposition 209 - the initiative that would end racial and gender preferences in state and local government hiring and contracting - has yet to resonate among voters as a hot Republican wedge issue.

Assembly Minority Leader Richard Katz, D-Panorama City, said surveys taken around the state in local districts show the measure has not generated the same emotion among voters as did Proposition 187, the anti-illegal immigration measure Wilson campaigned for re-election on in 1994.

``In every Assembly race it doesn't even come up as one of the top five issues,'' Katz said.

Darry Sragow, consultant to the Assembly Democrats, said part of the reason is that there is no statewide campaign of major interest.

``I guarantee if Wilson was running for re-election, it would be much more of a major issue,'' Sragow said. ``We would see a $10 million campaign for it just to bring out his voters.''

Wilson has been urging the GOP presidential ticket of Bob Dole and Jack Kemp to campaign on the issue, but so far they have stayed far away from it other than a pro-forma endorsement.

Opponents to Prop. 209 have been trying to make much of the blatant appeal to corporate leaders by Wilson and House Speaker Newt Gingrich to raise money for the measure, as reported last month by the Daily News.

While many said they are considering asking the state Fair Political Practices Commission to look into whether it violated any campaign laws, supporters of the measure say the account of the telephone pitch has caused them nothing but problems.

Even worse, said Prop. 209 chairman Ward Connerly, has been the results of the call.

``We haven't raised one dime from those calls,'' Connerly said last week. ``All we got from that call was grief.''

Connerly is making his own calls to corporate leaders - particularly those he suspects might come out against the measure.So far, most major corporations have remained out of the campaign.

Assembly Democrats will be getting a major boost this month when President Clinton appears at a Universal City fund-raiser on behalf of them and the Democratic National Committee.

Katz said he expects to see $500,000 raised at the Oct. 17 event to help Assembly Democrats.

There are three local races where Katz expects to use the money. They include backing Democrat Jack Scott against Republican Assemblyman Bill Hoge in Pasadena, Democrat Scott Wildman against Republican John Geranios in Glendale and incumbent Democrat Debra Bowen, who is in a tight race against Republican Dan Walker in the Marina del Rey area.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan made another effort to reach out and make peace with the City Council last week, hosting a cocktail party and dinner at the Getty House.

But, it went over about as well as the mayor's plans to expand the Police Department and get a citizen's charter reform proposal.Only about half the council showed up and several left before the dinner was served.

``It was kind of stiff and awkward,'' said one person who attended and asked not to be identified. ``The way it is these days is those people who like the mayor like him. Those who don't never will.''

The Los Angeles County Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Commission, one of those little heard of citizen panels that advise the Board of Supervisors, came dangerously close to making news last week when one member brought in a resolution urging the board to support Proposition 215.

Mimi Robbins, who is the appointee of Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, said she believed the measure, which would legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes, was important to help people suffering with various illnesses.

A major argument erupted among the 10 members present, with opponents then bringing in a motion to have the board oppose the proposition.

An enraged but politically astute Robbins managed to head off a formal vote by walking out of the room and breaking the quorum.