One of the most curious features of the close race for L.A. City Attorney has been Mayor Richard Riordan’s unwillingness to endorse his own deputy mayor for economic development, Rocky Delgadillo. The Harvard-educated attorney is facing off against termed-out City Councilman Mike Feuer, and deputy district attorneys Lea Purwin D’Agostino and Frank Tavelman.

“Mayor Riordan has not as of yet endorsed anybody in the race for City Attorney,” mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Copen said last week.

But Riordan may finally be about to break his silence. This Tuesday evening (March 13), he is scheduled to be one of two “special guests” at a Delgadillo fundraiser at the Brentwood home of developer Rick Caruso. The other special guest is Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who has worked closely with Delgadillo and the mayor’s staff on several inner-city development projects.

In such a close race where the candidates don’t have huge name recognition, getting the endorsement from Mayor Riordan could push Delgadillo into the runoff.

Also cohosting the fundraiser are billionaire civic leader Eli Broad, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary and former Univision executive Henry Cisneros, former L.A. Olympics czar Peter Ueberroth and current L.A. chamber chairman Charles Woo.

Thanks to his efforts as Riordan’s economic development point man, Delgadillo has won considerable backing from the business community. A few months ago, wealthy biotech magnate Alfred Mann hosted a fundraiser for Delgadillo at his Mulholland Estates home; Delgadillo had been instrumental in securing city permission for Mann to expand his company, MiniMed Inc.

Delgadillo created quite a stir last week when outdoor advertising firm Eller Media Co. erected eight signs throughout the city touting Delgadillo for City Attorney. An Eller Media spokesman denied reports that the company is backing Delgadillo because rival Feuer has actively supported tighter billboard regulations.

Advertising on City Structures?

Speaking of billboards, L.A. City Councilwoman and City Controller candidate Laura Chick has come up with a novel potential revenue source for the city: making advertising space available to private companies on city structures. Last month, the City Council approved a motion by Chick calling for the study of the feasibility of allowing ads on the walls of parking structures, city buses and other city properties.

“This could be a new funding source for the city,” Chick said.

The report, due in April, would explore the legality of such advertising arrangements, how much revenue the ads would generate and how best to work with the contractors who operate the parking lots and buses.

“That’s when we’ll be able to gauge whether or not this is a worthwhile effort and, if so, what locations would be most appropriate,” Chick said.

More Polanco

Shortly after last week’s column went to press, the rumors that had been circulating all week long about why state Sen. Majority Leader Richard Polanco suddenly withdrew from the First District L.A. City Council race finally appeared in print. And curiously, the story didn’t break in any L.A. media.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross ran with the story in their March 2 column. Matier and Ross reported that Polanco fathered a son out of wedlock in 1992; they cited a copy of a Sacramento County birth certificate that had been leaked to the media over the last couple weeks. After the birth, Matier and Ross said the child’s mother joined Polanco’s legislative staff as an aide; her current annual salary is $62,000.

In their column, Matier and Ross quote Polanco administrative assistant Bill Mabie. He neither confirmed nor denied the story. Rather, Mabie said, Polanco’s decision to withdraw from the race was triggered by the L.A. Democratic Central Committee’s decision last month to endorse community activist and attorney Fumio Nakahiro for the council seat over the high-ranking Democrat Polanco.

Neither Mabie nor anyone else on Polanco’s staff returned calls last week seeking comment on the situation. And since the Chronicle story, neither the L.A. Times nor the L.A. Daily News has run with the story.

Ex-Mayoral Aide Hangs Shingle

Former Deputy Mayor Stephanie Bradfield has opened up her own home-based public relations consulting business.

Bradfield, who served as Richard Riordan’s chief government liaison from 1996 to 1998, left P.R. giant APCO Worldwide last month with the hope of carving out a niche representing small and mid-sized businesses and nonprofits. Her biggest client so far is Genesis L.A., the inner-city development fund started by Riordan three years ago.

“So many of the clients I had been in contact with couldn’t afford the fees of a major P.R. firm,” Bradfield said. “That’s when I decided I could go out there and, with my lower overhead, charge less.”

After leaving the Mayor’s Office in June 1998, Bradfield spent nearly a year as vice president of communications and public affairs for the L.A. Convention and Visitors Bureau before opening APCO Worldwide’s L.A. office in May 1999.

Staff reporter Howard Fine can be reached by phone at (323) 549-5225, ext. 227, or by e-mail at [email protected].