Former mayor Richard Riordan, who is leading a campaign to pare back L.A.'s public employee pensions, was hospitalized earlier this week after experiencing chest pains.

Riordan, 82, told the Weekly that he called paramedics on Tuesday night after feeling dizzy and experiencing pain in his chest during dinner.
When the paramedics arrived, Riordan said he joked with them about trimming their pensions.
“You guys are gonna hate me over this,” he told them.

The paramedics took him to St. John's Health Center in West Los Angeles, where he was kept overnight and given a series of tests. Riordan had a heart attack last December. He said the tests showed he did not have another one.
“I came out perfectly,” the mayor said. “They figure it was indigestion.”
The L.A. Police Protective League has challenged Riordan to a series of debates over his pension reform initiative. Riordan was non-committal when asked whether he would accept.
“I'm not running for mayor or governor or pope,” he said. “The issue is, is the city in desperate shape and should the voters vote in favor of changes, or should they not. Whether they like Dick Riordan or not is irrelevant.”
“At the rate we're going,” he said, “we're going to be bankrupt by 2017 or before that.”

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