L.A. CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS / 12TH DISTRICT : Korenstein Back on Attack After Forcing Runoff

Barely pausing after forcing Los Angeles Councilman Hal Bernson into an embarrassing runoff election, Julie Korenstein on Wednesday resumed attacking him for supporting the Porter Ranch development, the issue that propelled her to a second-place finish in Tuesday’s primary.

Meanwhile, the anti-Bernson candidate who placed third, Walter Prince, appeared to back away from his position that he would not support Korenstein in the runoff, setting out conditions under which he would endorse her.

Bernson faces a June 4 runoff against Korenstein, a Los Angeles school board member, because he failed to get the 50%-plus-one vote majority needed to win outright in Tuesday’s primary. Bernson had predicted that he would beat Korenstein and four other challengers in the primary. He was one of two council incumbents--of the eight up for reelection--forced into a runoff.

According to unofficial vote results Wednesday, Bernson had 34.7% of the vote to Korenstein’s 29%. Prince, a Chatsworth businessman, had 15.2%.

Northridge printer Allen Hecht won 13.9%, and Los Angeles police detective Arthur (Larry) Kagele had 4.1%. Granada Hills retiree Leonard Shapiro, who publishes a small monthly newsletter about city government, had 3%.

The results also showed a much higher level of voter interest than the last time Bernson ran for reelection. City officials said 27,673 people cast ballots Tuesday, compared with 15,815 ballots in the 1987 primary. In that election, Bernson captured almost 80% of the vote against a single opponent.

At a news conference staged at the dusty Rinaldi Street entrance to the proposed $2-billion Porter Ranch complex, Korenstein declared that voters’ refusal to give Bernson a majority amounted to a “referendum on overdevelopment” in the northwest San Fernando Valley.

“The Porter Ranch theme hasn’t gone away yet,” she said, as a cement truck rumbled past her and out of the project, which will not be finished for at least 20 years.

“When they voted 65% against Bernson, they voted for that reason.”

But Hal Dash, co-manager of the Bernson campaign, promised that Bernson will wage an aggressive runoff campaign against Korenstein. “We’re not going to slash and burn, but we’re going to be tough. No more Mr. Nice Guy,” Dash said.

Reached at his Granada Hills home Wednesday afternoon, where he was resting and nursing a sinus infection, the councilman said the runoff would be “a more focused campaign” in which he would underscore the philosophical differences between himself, a conservative Republican, and Korenstein, a liberal Democrat.

“We don’t have all these other candidates in the field,” Bernson said. “It’s just me and her.”

Bernson largely refrained from attacking Korenstein and his other opponents during the primary, despite the barrage of accusations they aimed at him.

Korenstein and others repeatedly criticized Bernson for steering the Porter Ranch project through the city permit process. They also said he acted unethically by accepting more than $55,000 in campaign donations from its developer, Nathan Shapell, and Shapell’s business allies over the past nine years.

Bernson’s only real counterpunch came after Korenstein sent out a campaign brochure saying the crime rate in the northwest Valley had risen 73% since Bernson’s 1979 election.

Bernson responded with his own mailer attacking Korenstein for repeatedly voting on the school board “to return expelled, armed students to regular classes.”

Dash said on Monday that Bernson resisted advice from some quarters to attack Korenstein and instead chose to campaign on the issues.

But Porter Ranch Development Co. spokesman Paul Clarke, a Republican political consultant who managed Bernson’s 1987 campaign, said Wednesday that he thought that Bernson erred by not attacking Korenstein in the primary.

“I think it’s a mistake anytime you don’t let voters know about the foibles and failings of your opponent. . . . But Hal’s a very intelligent person and I presume he’ll learn from his mistakes and give her no quarter in June,” he said.

Korenstein’s campaign strategy in the primary was to deny Bernson a majority and then rally the other anti-Bernson candidates behind her, giving her enough votes to beat him in June.

But last week, the four other challengers said they would not support her. Later, Kagele said he reluctantly agreed to back her and Shapiro said he was undecided.

On Wednesday, Prince appeared to soften his opposition.

He said he will give her his blessing “if she could convince me that she’s not going to be beholden to outsiders.” Last week, Prince said he was upset at Korenstein’s acceptance of campaign contributions from unions and donors outside the 12th Council District.

Prince said he also wanted assurances that Korenstein would hire “community-oriented people” for her council office, “not politicians.”

“We’re still way apart philosophically,” Prince said. But he added: “I would not encourage anyone to not support her. I would tell people, ‘Don’t support Bernson.’ ”

Korenstein said that in addition to attacking Bernson over Porter Ranch, she plans to bring up new issues, but “I can’t tell you right now” what they will be.

Bernson manager Dash said his candidate plans to concentrate his attacks on Korenstein’s “pretty pathetic record” as a school board member.

He said Bernson will attempt to link Korenstein to school problems, including “a dropout rate of about 25% . . . teacher turmoil, layoffs . . . and test scores that continue to flounder.”

Dash also said Bernson will point out that “guns are rampant on campus,” despite a policy Korenstein authored requiring mandatory expulsion of students caught carrying guns on campus. Korenstein responded that the problems in the public schools can be traced mostly to inadequate state funding.

Bernson said now that four of his opponents have been eliminated, he expects to do well in a one-on-one confrontation with Korenstein.

“We’ll be able to discuss some things she’s been able to hide from before now,” he said.

Asked how he plans to handle the Porter Ranch issue in the runoff, Bernson said: “We’re just going to go on. I think that’s been well discussed. . . . I think people want to talk about other things, and we’re going to talk about other things. She can’t even furnish pencils and paper to the kids, so she wants to talk about things other than her record on the school board, which is dismal.”

Dash said Bernson spent between $175,000 and $200,000 in the primary, and expects to spend $100,000 to $150,000 in the runoff.

Korenstein said she spent about $80,000 in the primary and will spend a like amount for the June contest.