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LOS ANGELES — Richard Riordan lashed out at Bill Simon as a “sanctimonious hypocrite” Friday, harshly criticizing the former friend who has overtaken him with just days to go before the GOP gubernatorial primary. 

“Those are the words my mother taught me to say about people who carry religion on their lapel but go around telling untruths about other people,” added the moderate former Los Angeles mayor, whose maverick bid to broaden the Republican Party is flagging in the face of Simon’s traditional conservative campaign. 

As recently as Sunday, Riordan laughed off a question about whether he remains friends with Simon, who attends Catholic church with him in Santa Monica and who Riordan encouraged to run for governor before getting in the race himself. 

Since then a Field Institute poll showed Simon overcoming a 33-point deficit to overtake Riordan 37-31 among likely voters in the March 5 GOP primary, and the campaigns have been relentlessly on the attack. Simon has slammed Riordan for consorting with Democrats and accused him of being soft on taxes, and Riordan has hit back by questioning Simon’s business practices and his failure to register as a Republican until 1992. 

Riordan put to rest Friday any doubts about his relationship with Simon. 

“He has the sanctimonious gall to say he’s a good friend of Dick Riordan’s — ’but I want to tell you what Dick Riordan’s all about’ — and then he starts lying about me,” Riordan told a Hollywood press conference. “This is not friendship. This is sanctimonious hypocrisy.” 

In fact Riordan’s campaign was first in airing a negative attack ad. 

Simon strategist Jeff Flint said the multimillionaire investor still considers Riordan his friend, and that the two will probably continue to ski together since they own houses close to each other in Sun Valley, Idaho. 

“Bill Simon’s not going to address the increasingly false and desperate charges from Dick Riordan,” Flint said. “It’s clear he’s only lashing out because he’s fading in the polls.” 

In another sign Riordan’s campaign is in trouble, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday that the White House has reached out, through intermediaries, to Simon. 

The Times said a Washington lobbyist with ties to the White House approached Simon strategists this week to discuss an appearance with the president if Simon wins the primary. 

Riordan has said President Bush personally urged him to run, and he has long been seen as the candidate with the blessing of an administration eager to install a Republican governor in the nation’s most populous state. He said Friday that nothing has changed in his relationship with the White House. 

“The White House is reaching out to both of us. This is a close race. They will support whoever wins this nomination because we have to get rid of (Democratic incumbent) Gray Davis,” Riordan said. 

Simon confirmed contacts took place but declined to elaborate. 

“There have been contacts between our staffs, and the White House will work with whoever is the winner of this election,” Simon said. 

Asked how he felt about it, Simon said, “You have to say, wow.” But he added, “At the end of the day I tell all our guys and all our gals, you know, stay humble.”