TIPOFF : POLITICAL FEUDING CONTINUES BETWEEN CHICK AND RIORDAN.

Byline: Rick Orlov

WHEN they were elected three years ago, most everyone believed Mayor Richard Riordan and City Council member Laura Chick would be natural allies, given their common goals of improving public safety and making the city friendly for business.

Instead, they have become ardent opponents because of Chick's questioning of Riordan's programs, particularly his public safety plan.

Among the few public signs of the rift was a recent mailing Riordan sent to Chick's West Valley district criticizing her vote to slow down the hiring of new Los Angeles police officers.

Privately, however, Riordan and his allies have started throwing some heavy threats directly at Chick.

Last week, lobbyist Steven Afriat approached Chick with a warning message from Riordan political adviser William Wardlaw that she should mend her ways or face the consequences.

In other words, lay off the mayor or risk losing access to potential campaign contributors with ``long memories'' - at least as long as five years, when Chick will be term-limited out and could be looking at a possible run for mayor.

``She was told nothing is free in life is free. There's long memories in this town and it will take five years to forget you got in the way,'' one source said.

``She's gone out of her way to take potshots at the mayor and she should know there's repercussions,'' the source said.

Neither Wardlaw nor Afriat would discuss the not-so-veiled political threat.

``I don't comment on private conversations,'' Afriat said.

``It seems like they want to intimidate and batter anyone who raises questions about their policies and programs,'' she said. ``I will not give up my right to ask questions about how this city is operating.''

Chick added: ``I don't take messages from third parties,'' in so many words telling the mayor that he knows where to find her if he has something to tell her.

Earlier this year, Riordan delivered his own salvo to Chick when the two met for breakfast and the mayor told her she was his ``No. 1 enemy'' on a City Council that has not been reluctant to go against many of Riordan's bolder proposals.

Wardlaw offered some additional help to Riordan last week when he hosted a $500-a-person fund-raiser at his Pasadena home for the mayor's 1997 re-election campaign.

The shindig raised about $40,000 to add to the $2.1 million Riordan already has raised for the campaign from private donations as he tries to scare off potential opponents.

One of those, Rep. Howard Berman, D-Panorama City, is holding a meeting of his own this weekend at his home with about 30 Democratic activists who are urging him to run against Riordan next year.

Maybe Bob Dole should adopt a tolerance policy toward GOP rival Pat Buchanan.

Buchanan supporters said last week that Dole, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is trying to make life as difficult as possible for them at the GOP convention next month in San Diego.

A Buchanan official, who requested anonymity, said the delegates tried to book rooms at hotels near the convention and even at San Diego State University. But they were told there was no space. Instead, the delegates are being forced to stay in Escondido - about 45 minutes away.

The delegates are blaming the long commute on an effort by Gov. Pete Wilson and the Dole campaign to limit the activities of Buchanan supporters at the convention site.

Wilson spokesman Sean Walsh denied that Wilson has had anything to do with it.

MEDIA WATCH: The New Times Inc., the Phoenix company that publishes weekly newspapers in Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Miami and San Francisco, has purchased L.A. View and plans to go head-to-head with L.A. Weekly in competition for readers and advertisers in the alternative weekly market.

New Times has hired several local journalists including Richard Barrs and Jack Cheevers of the Los Angeles Times, and is in a bidding war with the Weekly for Jonathan Gold, whose offbeat Counter Culture column in the Times' Food Section has disappeared in recent weeks.

As part of its competitive strategy, the Weekly plans to publish an additional 20,000 copies a week.