Galanter Leads; Council Race Tight for Bernson : Election: Voters seem to be approving a measure to increase the City Council's control over commissions. Ridley-Thomas is ahead; Gay and Walters are even.

By JANE FRITSCH and JOHN L. MITCHELL

June 5, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Three-term Los Angeles City Council member Hal Bernson was running even with challenger Julie Korenstein in partial election results late Tuesday, but one-term incumbent Ruth Galanter held a lead in a race to hold onto her 6th District City Council seat.

With one-third of the city’s 15 City Council seats at stake, the results of the balloting will reshape political alignments in the city and could shore up Mayor Tom Bradley’s flagging support on the council.

For incumbents Galanter and Bernson, the election appeared to hinge on voter sentiments about development. Both Bernson, who represents the 12th District in the northern San Fernando Valley, and Galanter, who represents the 6th District near Los Angeles International Airport, were attacked by challengers who portrayed them as pro-growth.

Galanter all but declared victory late Tuesday, with more than half of the precincts reporting. “I’m not sure of the exact numbers but I’m planning to go to work tomorrow,” she told cheering supporters.

“It’s a horse race,” Bernson said late Tuesday as he huddled with advisers. “I’m not nervous though. It’s in the hands of the Lord.”

Korenstein said she had butterflies in her stomach as she awaited results at the home of a supporter.

In the central city’s 8th District, Mark Ridley-Thomas, a Bradley-backed candidate, had a substantial lead but stopped short of declaring victory over Roderick Wright, who was endorsed by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles). Ridley-Thomas pledged to uphold his campaign promise to improve basic city services to the district.

In the nearby 9th District, longtime City Council aide Bob Gay, who was backed by Waters, was running even with Rita Walters, the school board member backed by Bradley, to replace the late Councilman Gilbert W. Lindsay, who presided over the district for 27 years until his death last December.

Citywide, voters faced an array of ballot measures, including a $298.8-million bond issue for recreational and cultural improvements that appeared to be failing. A new anti-graffiti tax also was failing in early results.

Voters appeared to be approving a controversial City Charter amendment that would give the City Council greater control over city commissions. The measure was strongly opposed by the mayor, who intended to keep it off the ballot with a veto, but mistakenly signed it.

In the 1st District primary, the mood was jubilant at the Eastside headquarters of Mike Hernandez, who had a substantial lead and appeared headed toward a runoff with either Sharon Mee Yung Lowe or Sandra Figueroa. Hernandez is the candidate backed by Gloria Molina, who left the 1st District seat to become a Los Angeles County supervisor.

Officials expected a turnout of 15% to 20% of the registered voters, a relatively high number for a general election in recent years. But a tally was not available late Tuesday.

Continuing a trend, voters cast a record high number of absentee ballots, according to Joseph Giles, a senior analyst for the city clerk’s office.

Voters in 30 polling places throughout ran into problems Tuesday and a number apparently were turned away because of lack of personnel or supplies.

Only an hour before the polls closed at 7 p.m., Superior Court Judge Ronald Sohigian denied a request to extend voting hours at a Koreatown polling place that opened 2 1/2 hours late. The request was made by lawyers for two 46th Assembly District candidates who feared that the delay may have cost them crucial votes. There were a total of 15 candidates running for the Assembly seat, which was vacated by Michael Roos.

Sohigian ruled that the lawyers for candidates T.S. Chung and John Emerson failed to provide concrete evidence that anyone failed to vote as a result of the delay.

About 30 of the city’s 2,730 precincts had “some sort of problem” Tuesday related to either late opening or lack of supplies for voters, according to Frank Martinez, the head of the city clerk’s election division.

“As soon as we get a call from a voter precinct we get on it with backup crews,” Martinez said. “By midmorning all polling places were open and working properly.”

The 9th District race between Walters, 60, and Gay, 38, a deputy to the late Councilman Lindsay, focused on Lindsay’s record and allegations that the councilman and his staff neglected South-Central neighborhoods while pushing development in the downtown business area.

“I’m confident,” Walters said late Tuesday night. “I just feel very good.”

Gay predicted a close race that could hinge on 300 to 500 votes. “I don’t think you’re going to see any landslides,” he said.

In interviews at the polls on Tuesday, Lindsay’s name was mentioned a dozen times for every time a voter mentioned Gay or Walters.

“Gilbert Lindsay was an institution and the people kept voting for him because he did things for them,” said Lawrence Mitchell, a retired school plant manager.

Several people mentioned that they were voting for Gay because local pastors had told them to do so. Gay actively courted ministers in the district and locked up the endorsements of dozens before Walters even decided to enter the race.

The contest also featured mud-slinging between Gay and Walters. Gay attacked Walters because of reports that top aides in the mayor’s office held briefing sessions for her and used city equipment and computers to aid her campaign. Bradley reprimanded six aides, including Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani, and the Los Angeles Police Department opened a criminal investigation into the matter.

In repeated campaign appearances, Gay cited the assistance from Bradley’s office as evidence that Walters knows little about the issues facing the 9th District. Walters moved into the 9th District last January, about two weeks after Lindsay died.

Walters returned the fire, calling for an investigation of a $10,000 trip Gay took to Hong Kong, Paris and China in 1987 that was paid for by Hong Kong businessman Howard Yeung, who in 1986 drew up plans for a huge office, mart and hotel complex in the 9th District.

In the 8th District, where Councilman Robert Farrell decided to step down after 17 years, Ridley-Thomas, 36, on leave as director of the Los Angeles office of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, faced Wright, 38, a political consultant.

Both Ridley-Thomas and Wright focused on the issue of improving basic city services for the 8th District. Each has called for the removal of Police Chief Daryl F. Gates in the aftermath of the police beating of Rodney G. King, but Ridley-Thomas has been more visible on the issue, appearing at press conferences for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which has joined in a lawsuit to place Gates on administrative leave.

In the closing days of the campaign, each also began vigorous attacks on the other. Ridley-Thomas raised the issue of a 1985 no-contest plea by Wright to a misdemeanor election fraud charge stemming from a 1985 City Council campaign in Compton. Wright responded with a stepped-up attack on Ridley-Thomas for his close connections to Farrell, who endorsed Ridley-Thomas.

At the polls on Tuesday, a voter echoed Wright’s message. “Rod Wright seems to speak clearer on the issues,” said Earnestine Flemings. “This area has been neglected for a long time and we need someone who is willing to be strong. We need someone who is stronger than Robert Farrell.”

David Winston, 25, said he voted for Ridley-Thomas. “He is a proven leader,” he said. “He has been right on top of the police issue with Rodney King and I think he’ll do a good job with the other problems in the district.”

In the 6th District, the development issue that cost Galanter, 50, an outright victory in the April primary followed her into the runoff contest with Mary Lee Gray, 50, a senior deputy to County Supervisor Deane Dana.

Gray attacked Galanter for drifting too far from the anti-growth platform that brought her an upset victory four years ago over then-Council President Pat Russell. The attacks bolstered campaign reports that showed many of the city’s major developers and lobbyists had switched positions on Galanter and launched major fund-raising efforts for her.

Galanter countercharged that Gray, a deputy to the conservative Dana, is herself too pro-development and anti-environment.

Several voters interviewed in the Crenshaw area said they were not excited by either candidate and a number said they cast their vote on the basis of slate mailers. In one case, Gray, a registered Republican, paid to have her name placed on a mailer called “The California Democrat,” which featured mostly Democratic candidates.

Despite campaign assertions that Galanter was inattentive to the Crenshaw area, several voters said they “wanted to give her another chance.” They cited the construction of a Lucky supermarket, which Galanter supported.

“She helped bring another supermarket to this area and we really need that,” said Caroline Davis, a hairdresser and 20-year Crenshaw resident.

An ideological battle over growth also threw 12th District incumbent Bernson, 60, into a runoff with Julie Korenstein, 47, a Los Angeles school board member whose campaign was based on opposition to Bernson’s support of the vast Porter Ranch development.

Korenstein attacked the project and the traffic congestion it would bring as an “environmental catastrophe.”

Recognizing that voters in the northern San Fernando Valley district are generally conservative in their politics, Bernson repeatedly asserted that Korenstein was a delegate for civil rights leader Jesse Jackson at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. (Records indicate that Korenstein sought election as a Jackson delegate, but failed to win.)

Bernson also enlisted the help and endorsement of Gates, who is under fire from some liberal groups and factions in the city because of the King affair.

Both Bernson and Korenstein fielded about 100 precinct walkers each Tuesday in a final effort to get out the vote. Bernson spent the afternoon walking precincts in the North Hills area after working at City Hall for several hours.

Meanwhile, Korenstein made dozens of phone calls urging her supporters to get to the polls.

In the 1st District, a special primary election had a field of six relatively unknown candidates vying to replace the popular Molina. Her endorsement of Hernandez, a Cypress Park insurance agent and longtime supporter, was viewed as a tremendous boost to his campaign.

Also on the ballot were: Figueroa, executive director of an Echo Park social service agency; Lowe, an attorney; Frank Juarez Foster, an affordable housing advocate; Caesar Kenneth Aguirre, a financial consultant; and Maria Elizabeth Munoz, an elementary school teacher.

Times staff writers Jack Cheevers, Sam Enriquez, Marc Lacey, John H. Lee, James Rainey, George Ramos and John Schwada contributed to this story.