Political Briefing : Let the Race for City Council Campaign Endorsements Begin

ENDORSEMENT DERBY: One of the first things Richard Alarcon did this week after winning a berth in the June runoff election for the seat of retiring Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi was to call the candidates he beat. All five of them.

One was Ray Magana, a Sylmar lawyer who battled Alarcon hard for the Latino vote. Magana’s blessing could be a big plus for Alarcon in the June fight against Lyle Hall, an L. A. Fire Department captain who won the other runoff slot.

Bernardi’s district is heavily Latino.

But don’t expect Magana to rush into Alarcon’s arms.

The two men, both smooth operators who have known each other for years, clashed bitterly after Magana acknowledged that he falsely stated his birthplace as California on a 1978 voter-registration form (he actually is a native of Mexico).

Despite Magana’s explanation that he intended no deception, many believe that the revelation contributed to his defeat.

Just before Election Day, Alarcon mailed flyers to Latino voters implying that Magana was dishonest. Magana responded with flyers criticizing Alarcon for engaging in “a vicious campaign of smears and half-truths.”

Alarcon said he left a message for Magana the day after the election and believes that the attorney eventually will get behind him, despite their past confrontations. “It’s not about bad blood,” Alarcon said Thursday. “It’s about what’s good for the community.”

Magana’s response? So far, he hasn’t called back.

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DOES THE EMPEROR HAVE ANY COATTAILS?: Back in December, when candidates imagined only hurrahs and victory toasts in their political futures, City Council wanna-be Al Dib trotted out his secret weapon: veteran Councilman Hal Bernson of Granada Hills, a longtime pal.

Bernson, proclaimed Dib, was to be “the backbone of my campaign” to win Bernardi’s seat in the northeastern San Fernando Valley.

Bernson helped plan Dib’s campaign and lined up numerous members of his finance committee. Dib fund-raisers used Bernson’s name when they phoned potential givers.

On election night, Bernson joined his buddy at Dib’s Sylmar headquarters.

When the dust cleared, though, Dib had placed an unimpressive fifth in the seven-candidate race. Does that say anything about Bernson’s political skills?

“Bernson is about as good as a political consultant as Daryl Gates was as a race-relations specialist,” said one wag.

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QUOTE: Bernson did, however, manage to get off one of the best one-liners of election night. Watching on TV as super-rich mayoral contender Richard Riordan was mobbed by admirers at a Sherman Oaks victory party, Bernson quipped:

“Who says money can’t buy you love?”

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SACRAMENTO STURM UND DRANG: One of the most interesting political showdowns around is shaping up in the state Capitol, where powerful Assembly Speaker Willie Brown has vowed to do everything he can to kill legislation by equally powerful Senate leader David Roberti to break up the Los Angeles public school system.

In a recent talk with reporters, Brown, a liberal Democrat from San Francisco, said his opposition to a schools split-up “is not a negotiable thing.” A breakup, he contended, inevitably will lead to segregation in the smaller school districts.

Roberti, a Van Nuys Democrat, has said that for now he is concentrating on getting his bill through the Senate. Some observers say that will be a cakewalk compared with getting it through the Assembly, which Brown--a black who attended segregated Texas schools in the 1940s--rules with an iron hand.

But at least one local politics-watcher feels that Brown’s adamant opposition might prove, well, flexible.

“One does not become president pro tem of the Senate without being a political horse-trader,” said political consultant Paul Clarke of Northridge, referring to Roberti. “And I’m sure he’s got some horses to trade that Willie wants to buy.”

“There’s still a year and a half left in the (legislative) session. You never know when Willie will have a burning desire to get something through the Senate. . . . Willie doesn’t have to come out for (the breakup). All he has to do is take a walk on it, be in the cloakroom adjusting his cuff links when it comes up for a vote.”

“Roberti says he wants this as his legacy. If this is what he wants, he’s going to be real hardball about it.”

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RELAX, IT’S ONLY ELECTION DAY: For a lot of political types, Election Day is Hell Day. There are a million last-minute calls to make, a million unfinished details. Phones ring off the hook, tension headaches bloom.

Others, however, have a more laid-back attitude.

Anne Finn of Sylmar, who also ran for Bernardi’s seat, washed her car, bought some clothes and drove a friend to the polls. Political consultant Harvey Englander, who ran Dib’s campaign, played a morning round of golf.

Before heading for the links, Englander left a mildly peevish message on his answering machine, intended to discourage frantic clients from interrupting his chip shots:

“If you really need to reach me, my pager number is . . . “

How did the take-it-easy approach work? As noted earlier, Dib came in fifth. Finn was sixth.

Englander shot a 94.

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HOME IS WHERE THE GIMMICK IS: Finn might have lost the election, but she certainly took honors for

this season’s Homiest Campaign Gimmick.

A lively, elfin 77-year-old, she ran her campaign in distinctly grandmotherly fashion.

She offered visiting news hounds brownies and English muffins.

She put out a campaign brochure that looked like a family photo album (“We loved to dance!” said the caption on one picture of Finn tripping the light fantastic with her late husband, Howard, a onetime councilman.)

But Finn’s best stroke was plastic bags containing envelopes of Lipton tea. She left them on voters’ doorsteps when they weren’t home.

“Sorry I missed you,” said flyers accompanying the tea bags. “Please take a moment to have a cup of tea and read over my brochure.”