TIPOFF NOT EVERYBODY APPRECIATED MAYOR'S KING TUT LECTURE.

Byline: RICK ORLOV

File this in the category of no good deed goes unpunished.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had just ushered a group of students from Santa Ana High School into the King Tut exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in celebration of the exhibit's extension for an extra week in Los Angeles.

The nearly 15-minute lecture provided by the mayor and a docent, however, was not appreciated by some of those held up by security officers.

An exuberant Villaraigosa told the waiting group: ``We've got terrific news. King Tut is going to stay here an extra week.''

To which one frustrated patron remarked: ``I just want to see him today.''

You hear politicians talking all the time about how diverse the city has become.

Nowhere is that more evident than in the 10th City Council District, where former Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson is expected to win election on Tuesday.

At an event last week in which Villaraigosa and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez demonstrated their bilingualism, Wesson took the opportunity to one-up them - offering thanks in English, Spanish and Korean.

In his campaign efforts, Wesson also has print material in Ethiopian to appeal to those voters who now live in his district.

As the Los Angeles Police Department struggles to fill hundreds of open slots amid a tight job market and fierce competition from other departments, Chief William Bratton floated a new approach to recruiting last week.

The chief wants to make the LAPD more attractive. Literally.

At a news conference dedicating a new gym at Parker Center - with equipment donated by Woodland Hills-based fitness guru Joe Weider - and announcing an official department calendar, the chief drew a link between the two projects.

``With the new gym, maybe next year we'll put up a pin-up calendar of LAPD officers,'' he said.

Janice Cooley, the wife of District Attorney Steve Cooley, brought her brief career as an aide to Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich to an end last week.

Cooley, who had been working for Antonovich for nine months, was saluted at a staff luncheon for her work on children's issues. Cooley plans to volunteer for various children's programs, such as First Five, Antonovich aides said.

``It was her decision to leave,'' Antonovich spokesman Tony Bell said. ``She did a tremendous amount of work for the supervisor and was the force behind our adopt-a-foster-child program.''

Bell denied there was any concern over a potential conflict with her being the wife of the county's top prosecutor.

``We don't think there was a conflict,'' Bell said. ``She did an extremely good job. I think she just wanted to spend more time with her family than work here.''

Former Mayor Richard Riordan is returning to a job that gave him his first taste of public life.

It was announced last week that Riordan will be rejoining the board of the L.A.'s BEST program.

Former Mayor Tom Bradley tapped Riordan to be part of the founding board of the after-school program. During his own term as mayor, Riordan emphasized the program and helped expand it to a number of other schools throughout the city.

While this next item currently is occurring in Virginia, you know it is only a matter of time until it makes its way west.

Taking get-out-the-vote efforts to the extreme-sports crowd, the Young Democrats of America enlisted the help of the World Wrestling Entertainment folks to try to get out the vote.

Traveling to bars throughout the state, the YDA and WWE political commentator Chris Nowinski went on a voter drive for the 18- to 29-year-old crowd.

Daily News staff writers Troy Anderson and Dan Laidman contributed to this column.

Rick Orlov, [phone]

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com