Holden Says He May Run for Mayor, Assails Riordan, Hayden

With blasts at incumbent Mayor Richard Riordan and his only substantial challenger to date, state Sen. Tom Hayden, Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden said Monday that he will decide over the next week whether to jump into the race.

Holden’s escalated attacks on Riordan and coy hints about his own plans in recent weeks have fueled speculation that he would seek the mayor’s office this spring. The initial filing period for the April 8 municipal primary opens Wednesday and closes Jan. 13.

On Monday, Holden issued a statement denouncing Hayden, a Westside Democrat recently reelected to the Legislature, as a “Johnny-come-lately who simply wants to run but not serve.”

“He wants to be mayor, but he wasn’t even around to help during the civil unrest [in 1992]. When the water rates went up and the sewer charges increased, he didn’t introduce one piece of legislation to influence the Public Utilities Commission to control the rates,” Holden said in his statement, released the day after Hayden announced that he would challenge Riordan’s bid for a second and final four-year term.

“If the mayor thinks wisely and honestly, he will surely conclude it would be an injustice to run again and bow out of the race. Otherwise, King Richard will be dethroned because he has promised but done nothing.”

Hayden campaign manager Patricia Shin said: “We’d rather talk about issues rather than who has been where and when. Tom has represented many hundreds of thousands of L.A. residents for years, and they have reelected him because he’s been effective.”

Bill Carrick, a campaign consultant for Riordan, said he was “a little surprised at the intensity of [Holden’s] attack on Sen. Hayden” but dismissed the councilman’s remarks about his own boss as “just more of the same” rhetoric.

Holden would not have to give up his council seat to campaign for mayor.