Bernson and Korenstein Court Losers for Support : Politics: Endorsements from the four top also-rans in the City Council primary may be crucial for both contestants in June’s 12th District runoff race.

Less than 48 hours after losing his first race for political office, print shop owner Allen Hecht found himself lunching on veal Dijon at a Northridge restaurant with the man he tried to unseat, Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson.

Before picking up the tab, Bernson asked Hecht if he would back him in his June 4 runoff election against Los Angeles school board member Julie Korenstein.

Bernson and Korenstein won their runoff berths by beating Hecht and three other challengers in the April 9 primary race for Bernson’s northwest San Fernando Valley seat.

Just two hours after lunching with Bernson, Hecht--who finished fourth in the primary--was at a different Northridge restaurant, sipping herbal tea across from Korenstein

She, too, wanted his endorsement.

“It only cost me $30,000 to get two free lunches,” quipped Hecht, referring to the amount his failed campaign cost.

As they recover from the exhaustion of the primary and crank up their campaign organizations for June, Bernson and Korenstein are drawing up new plans for public-opinion polls, campaign mailers, fund-raising parties and precinct-walking operations.

They also are formulating strategies for what is likely to be a key battleground in the runoff: winning over voters who backed the four candidates they defeated in April.

To do so, Bernson and Korenstein must first woo those candidates.

Although they all lost, the four--Hecht; businessman Walter Prince; police detective Arthur Kagele and newsletter publisher Leonard Shapiro--together ran up a larger share of the vote than either Bernson or Korenstein. They had 36.2%, compared with 34.7% for Bernson and 29% for Korenstein.

Meanwhile, Bernson and Korenstein are waiting to see if Prince, who was No. 3 in the primary, will enter the runoff.

Prince said last week he is considering a write-in candidacy and plans to make up his mind by the end of this week.

A bid by Prince could dramatically reshape the runoff campaign.

Korenstein’s campaign manager, Parke Skelton, has warned that if Prince runs, she will concentrate her attacks on him in an effort to damage his ability to lure anti-Bernson voters. During the primary, Korenstein repeatedly criticized Bernson for his support of the mammoth Porter Ranch development.

In the days since the primary, both Bernson and Korenstein have courted beaten candidates for their endorsements.

But so far, most of the losers--who all ran anti-Bernson campaigns--have proven unwilling to commit themselves to a political marriage of convenience.

Korenstein contacted all four, but to date has secured the backing only of Shapiro, who ran last in the primary with 3% of the vote.

Bernson has spoken only with Hecht and Prince, who together won 29.1%. Neither endorsed him.

But political analysts said it is Korenstein who most needs the backing of the losers, who all shared her opposition to Porter Ranch.

In order to win in June, she must persuade more supporters of the defeated candidates to back her than Bernson.

“I think she really needs these folks on board,” said Rick Taylor, a political consultant who managed Prince’s campaign. “Not because they have any great followings, but because . . . Prince and Hecht voters are truly anti-Bernson voters.

Hecht, who intends to remain neutral in the runoff “at this point in time,” said he was getting phone calls from Korenstein backers last week on “almost an hourly” basis.

“I’ve been accused of being a Bernson supporter, de facto ,” he said. “Korenstein’s people think that because I’m not endorsing Julie, that means I’m endorsing Hal. They’re getting me angry enough that it just may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’ve been treated with more respect by Bernson’s people.”

Skelton said Korenstein still hopes to persuade one or more of the defeated candidates to support her.

“All we can do is ask. If they support us, great. If not, we’ll live with it,” he said.

During the primary, Bernson largely refrained from attacking his opponents, although they subjected him to a withering barrage of criticism.

But Bernson said that will change in the runoff.

Bernson said he intends to vigorously challenge Korenstein’s record on the school board.

He also plans to remind voters of her recent call for the resignation of Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates and of her “connection” to the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the black civil rights activist.

Korenstein has said she worked as a campaign volunteer for Jackson’s 1984 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Skelton said Korenstein will continue to attack Bernson over Porter Ranch.

But she also intends to mount another development-related attack by accusing Bernson of lying about working to preserve nearby Oat Mountain while accepting money from developers who own land there.

Bernson, a conservative Republican, said he believes that despite his position on Porter Ranch, he can lure Prince and Hecht voters by portraying Korenstein, a liberal Democrat, as philosophically out of step with the moderate-to-conservative district and by showing that he has a better grasp of city issues.

“I think a lot of people are saying, ‘Bernson represents things we believe in and in spite of the fact we don’t agree with him on that particular issue, he’s the right guy to represent the district,’ ” he said.

But Skelton said those who voted against Bernson in the primary are highly unlikely to vote for him in the runoff.

“People have already decided they don’t want the incumbent,” he said. “They are more disposed to vote for a challenger. . . . Some of them may go to Bernson, but we need to get about 60% of them to win. I think that’s eminently doable.”

Skelton said “there’s an element” of racism in Bernson’s attempt to use Korenstein’s work for Jesse Jackson against her, but he expects it will have little political impact.

“It tends to excite his natural base: hard-core, rock-ribbed, die-hard Republicans who are going to vote for him because he’s a Republican . . . but most voters in the district are interested in other issues,” he said.

In an interview last week, Bernson called for a series of debates with Korenstein on individual issues from crime to solid waste management. During the primary, he appeared in a candidates forum with Korenstein and his other opponents just once.

“I think it’s time to really discuss the issues . . . I don’t think she can win the election by hiding behind Porter Ranch,” he said.

According to one source close to Bernson but not involved in his campaign, Bernson and his strategists hope to expose what they believe is Korenstein’s lack of familiarity with nuts-and-bolts city issues.

“I would think her reliability in a debate situation would be less than the accuracy of Scud missiles. She has an extremely high self-destruction potential because she simply doesn’t know anything,” the source said.

Skelton said he had not seen a formal debate proposal and therefore could not respond to Bernson’s challenge. But he accused Bernson of ducking candidate forums during the primary.

Despite Bernson’s heavy fund-raising edge in the primary, city campaign rules have placed the two candidates on virtually equal financial footing at the start of the runoff.

Under city law, candidates must dispose of all campaign funds over $5,000 between the primary and runoff.

The money can be returned to donors or given to charity or the city treasury.

Korenstein expects to raise about $80,000 for the race, while Bernson will raise $100,000 to $150,000, his campaign co-manager, Hal Dash, said.

Skelton said the question of whether Korenstein conducts polling and other activities depends on how much money she can raise.

He said that in addition to fund-raisers and other typical money-generating tactics, she plans to make telephone appeals to 12th Council District residents for cash.

Dash said Bernson plans to send out more campaign mailers in the runoff than the dozen he sent in the primary.

He also intends to add more phone-bank operations to help boost voter turnout.

According to sources, Bernson’s campaign made a major miscalculation in the primary, badly underestimating how many votes it would take to win it outright, as he predicted he would.

Under city rules, any candidate who achieves at least a 50%-plus-one-vote majority in the primary is the winner, eliminating the need for a runoff.

But Bernson’s campaign believed that the turnout would be only about 15,000 and that he could win with as few as 7,500 votes, sources said. The actual turnout was far higher--more than 27,000--meaning Bernson in fact needed more than 13,500 votes.

HOW THE 12TH DISTRICT VOTED

Map shows how communities in the Los Angeles City Council 12th District voted in the April 9 election. Percentages are for incumbent Councilman Hal Bernson and school board member Julie Korenstein, who will face each other in a runoff election June 4. Also shown are combined percentage for our candidates who did not qualify for the runoff: businessman Walter Prince, print-shop owner Allen Hecht, Los Angeles Police Detective Arthur (Larry) Kagele and Leonard Shapiro, publisher of a public affairs newsletter. Proximity to the Porter Ranch development site appeared to be factor in the election, with neighborhoods close to the site more likely to vote for a challenger than the incumbent. A total of 27,673 vote were cast in the district. TOTAL DISTRICTWIDE VOTE: Hal Bernson: 35% Julie Korenstein: 29% Other: 36% Chatsworth: Hal Bernson: 32% Julie Korenstein: 30% Other: 38% Chatsworth: Hal Bernson: 31% Julie Korenstein: 32% Other: 37% Chatsworth: Hal Bernson: 44% Julie Korenstein: 22% Other: 34% Chatsworth: Hal Bernson: 33% Julie Korenstein: 27% Other: 40% Chatsworth: Hal Bernson: 38% Julie Korenstein: 25% Other: 37% Chatsworth: Hal Bernson: 22% Julie Korenstein: 28% Other: 50% Porter Ranch: Hal Bernson: 19% Julie Korenstein: 36% Other: 45% Northridge/Chatsworth: Hal Bernson: 26% Julie Korenstein: 32% Other: 42% Northridge: Hal Bernson: 30% Julie Korenstein: 32% Other: 38% Northridge: Hal Bernson: 34% Julie Korenstein: 24% Other: 42% Northridge: Hal Bernson: 38% Julie Korenstein: 22% Other: 40% Northridge: Hal Bernson: 40% Julie Korenstein: 24% Other: 36% Northridge: Hal Bernson: 29% Julie Korenstein: 29% Other: 42% Granada Hills: Hal Bernson: 40% Julie Korenstein: 24% Other: 36% Granada Hills: Hal Bernson: 36% Julie Korenstein: 24% Other: 40% Granada Hills: Hal Bernson: 34% Julie Korenstein: 28% Other: 38% Northridge/Sepulveda: Hal Bernson: 44% Julie Korenstein: 23% Other: 33% Sepulveda: Hal Bernson: 44% Julie Korenstein: 22% Other: 34%