Dick Riordan did the right thing by California last week – counter to the urgings of rich business friends and certain ranking egos at the Los Angeles Times, he declined to run for governor.You could follow his reasoning. Competing against Jane Harman and Al Checchi, Republican Riordan wouldn’t get campaign money from Democrats. Running against Dan Lungren, he wouldn’t get much from Republicans. Using his own millions, he’d be outspent – particularly by those two wealthier Democrats. One thing Dick Riordan understands is numbers. This time, they were against him.This may have been the mayor’s sagest determination since he decided, under health department pressure, to sanitize his Original Pantry restaurant last Thanksgiving.But Riordan didn’t want us to dwell on his decision to stick around, especially after the Times so ballyhooed his last-minute second thoughts.So, just as our president tries to distract us from his mounting personal problems via his belligerence against Iraq, DickRiordan launched his own pre-emptive strike almost at the very moment he decided to renounce Sacramento. The target was his personal Saddam Hussein: the local school board.
Source: Riordan’s Back | L.A. Weekly