Remember when former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan was so perturbed at the L.A. Times that he dallied with starting his own rival paper? He even produced a prototype of his Los Angeles Examiner, with pieces by LA Observed contributor Bill Boyarsky and others. Well, that was then. Recently, Riordan threw a cocktail party to introduce Jim Newton as the paper's new Editor of the Editorial Pages to the Wardlaws and other powerful of the city. Newton had covered the Riordan administration in City Hall for the Times. Also at the party, many guests learned — because Riordan announced it — that he has been spending time with Martha Groves, the Times' reporter in the Westside office. After the party, Groves and her daughter accompanied Riordan and his daughter (and granddaughter) on a ski vacation in Chile. Groves, who has known Riordan since the 1980s, says she and the former mayor see each other socially and that her editors are aware of the relationship. Riordan, 77, is separated from Nancy Daly Riordan.