TIPOFF : VILLARAIGOSA'S MAYORAL HOPES GET BROAD HELP.

Byline: RICK ORLOV

IT helps to have friends. Especially rich friends when it comes to the fractured race for Los Angeles mayor in 2001.

Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, D-Los Angeles, can count among his friends billionaire Eli Broad.

Broad hosted a fund-raising breakfast for Villaraigosa at the pricey Regency Club in Westwood on Friday and is holding a reception at his Brentwood home Monday night. Price tag: $1,000 a person.

On the surface, there is not much in common between the two. While both are self-made power brokers, Broad came up through real estate and investments. Villaraigosa came from the streets of East Los Angeles and through the unions.

Broad is Westside and high culture. Villaraigosa is blue collar and street politics. Yet, both are Democrats.

Both sides are quick to point out that Broad is not - yet - endorsing Villaraigosa. But, in the strange world of politics, he is lending his support.

The reasons are not that far below the surface.

Mostly it is because of the major support Villaraigosa has been able to provide Broad for both the Disney Concert Hall and the effort by Broad and developer Ed Roski Jr. to get a professional football team.

In his invitation to friends, Broad mentioned Villaraigosa's support of Disney Hall as he sought to allay fears that the former union organizer might be too liberal.

``Throughout his career, Antonio has also been a friend of business and a tireless advocate for our city's families and children,'' Broad wrote, adding he believes the speaker can work with all parts of the city.

There was no immediate estimate on what would be raised, but it was said to be substantial enough that it would make Villaraigosa competitive with the other announced major opponents, City Attorney James Hahn, Councilman Joel Wachs and businessman Steve Soboroff.

Former Councilman Mike Woo made a return of sorts to City Hall last week and admits he misses the place - and might be looking to return.

Woo was appearing at a meeting in connection with his job as a federal agency administrator and was met with some shocked looks as he walked through the corridors he wanted to rule over when he ran, unsuccessfully, for mayor in 1993 against Richard Riordan.

``There are times when I see something and I want to call someone up and I have to remember I'm no longer on the Council Woo said. ``It does get frustrating.''

Since his loss to Riordan, Woo has been quietly active on the political scene and says he is considering a run for the seat he once held, which will be vacated if Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg is successful in her run for the state Assembly.

MEDIA WATCH: And the beat goes on at the Los Angeles Times.

The Associated Press quoted various news accounts last week that Times Chief Executive Officer Mark Willes is fighting back against the uprising by his editorial department over the special Staples Center edition in which the newspaper shared $2.1 million in profits from its Sunday magazine.

A week after promising a full internal investigation by its media writer David Shaw, Willes sent a memo to the staff defending publisher Kathryn Downing as well as his efforts to have the news department work with the advertising department.

Even though the profit-sharing was a mistake, Willes said he wants the news and advertising folks to work with one another. Which caused the problem in the first place.

``If we are to succeed in today's fiercely competitive environment, we must have a constant flow of creative ideas,'' Willes wrote. ``If we are so concerned about the risk of embarrassment that we don't innovate, we will die.''

Willes also decided to point the finger at other news organizations, including the Boston Globe for a similar publication it made on the opening of the Fleet Center in Boston and the ownership of the Chicago Cubs by the Tribune Co.

He apparently is going for the theory that the best defense is a good offense.