Race Is Over, but Charges Continue : Council: Bernson, Korenstein camps trade accusations of campaign fraud, racial polarization.

Post-election tension between Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson and challenger Julie Korenstein prompted charges of racial polarization and campaign fraud Wednesday in the aftermath of Bernson’s narrow victory in Tuesday’s runoff.

Bernson defeated Korenstein, a city school board member, by 746 votes in a bitter campaign in which he accused her of having liberal views that are out of step with voters in the moderate-to-conservative 12th Council District.

The election drew more than 32,000 voters to the polls in the largely affluent, northwest San Fernando Valley district--a 31% turnout that was the highest of the five council races on Tuesday’s ballot. About 12,000 absentee ballots citywide have yet to be counted, but Korenstein has conceded defeat.

Korenstein’s campaign manager, Parke Skelton, charged that Bernson exploited racial tensions surrounding the Rodney G. King beating by casting himself as an ally of the white law-and-order Establishment while linking Korenstein to liberal African-American politicians.

“Bernson was looking for a Willie Horton, and Rodney King gave him the opportunity to polarize the district on racial lines,” said Skelton, referring to a black prisoner who escaped while on furlough from a Massachusetts prison and raped a white woman during Gov. Michael Dukakis’ Administration.

The incident was used in a key political advertisement in George Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign against Dukakis, the Democratic nominee, and prompted charges of “negative” campaigning from Democrats.

Skelton said that during the council campaign, Bernson sought to link himself to Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, who gave Bernson his endorsement, and to former President Ronald Reagan, in order to attract law-and-order voters.

At the same time, Skelton said, the councilman stressed Korenstein’s support of the Rev. Jesse Jackson and her call for Gates to resign in the wake of the King beating, a position shared by Mayor Tom Bradley.

Skelton said Bernson hoped to frame the choice for 12th District voters as, “Are you on the side of black criminals or are you on the side of the police chief?”

Bernson, a conservative Republican, denied trying to inject race into the campaign, saying that he was highlighting ideological differences between himself and Korenstein, a liberal Democrat.

“We think people are entitled to know what people’s beliefs are and where they’re coming from,” he said. “They can read anything they want into that. “

Bernson said Gates’ endorsement was a “major, major factor” in his narrow victory in the 12th District, where the councilman’s polling showed that the chief is very popular. The district is the only one in the city where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats.

Bernson said he plans to file a complaint with the state Fair Political Practices Commission and possibly the FBI over campaign expenditures made by Browning Ferris Industries, which owns and operates the Sunshine Canyon Landfill above Granada Hills. Bernson is a longtime opponent of efforts to expand the dump.

BFI reported spending more than $13,000 on an anti-Bernson phone bank and precinct-walking operations in the final days of the race, including $10,000 reported a day before the election.

Bernson said he believes BFI spent more money than it reported, although he said he had no hard evidence.

A company spokesman could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The councilman also charged that BFI secretly funneled money to a north Valley citizens group, PRIDE, which has vigorously opposed the vast Porter Ranch project north of Chatsworth. Korenstein made Bernson’s support of the project the centerpiece of her campaign.

PRIDE leader Don Worsham denied Bernson’s charge, saying that the organization is funded entirely by voluntary contributions from its homeowner members.

“He’s acting very paranoid,” Worsham said of Bernson. “He sees people hiding behind every corner.”