LOS ANGELES : Audit Finds Riordan, Woo Donations Exceeded Limits

Releasing final audits of the 1993 mayoral campaign, the costliest in Los Angeles history, the city Ethics Commission Thursday found Mayor Richard Riordan and his opponent, former Councilman Michael Woo, received several thousand of dollars in contributions in excess of legal limits.

Overall, however, the reviews concluded that both candidates substantially complied with tougher election laws enacted after the ethics controversies in the latter years of former Mayor Tom Bradley’s Administration.

Riordan’s campaign, which spent $9.6 million, received $7,000 in impermissible donations, the report said. Woo, who spent nearly $6 million, received about $16,000 in unallowable contributions, including $3,655 in public matching funds for contributor checks that later bounced. Woo also received $583 worth of computer material not reimbursed from one of the former councilman’s non-campaign committees.

Woo’s attorney said funds would be returned to contributors or to the city treasury where warranted. A Riordan campaign spokesman was not immediately available for comment.