TV Session to Be Taped Today : Bernardi, Challenger to Face Off in 3 Debates

Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi and challenger Lyle Hall, who sparred by remote control during the primary campaign, said Thursday that they have agreed to three debates, starting with a taped-for-television session today.

The pair, pitted against one another in the June 6 runoff election, relied largely on mailers before the April 11 primary, with Hall attacking Bernardi’s age and council attendance record and the 77-year-old councilman criticizing Hall, a city Fire Department captain, as a tool of organized labor.

They are expected to try to emphasize the same issues in today’s taped half-hour debate, which will be broadcast at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on KCBS-TV, Channel 2.

The 49-year-old Hall, saying he was “delighted he has at last agreed to a debate,” nonetheless criticized Bernardi for declining a joint appearance Thursday at a Greater San Fernando Valley Lions Club luncheon.

Bernardi said he passed up the event because it was in Studio City, outside his 7th District, “and I was busy with things in the district. Also, we’re going to get plenty of chance to debate with these three sessions.”

The pair will also face off at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Pacoima. The debate will be sponsored by Valley Organized in Community Effort, a grass-roots organization formed by Valley churches and synagogues.

At 7 p.m. May 9, they will debate at the Branford Park community building in Arleta. That session will be sponsored by the Arleta Chamber of Commerce.

Bernardi, who with 28 years of service is the senior member of the council, received 42% of the primary vote, short of the majority required to avoid a runoff against Hall, who was second with 26%. It is Bernardi’s first runoff since he was elected to the council.

Bernardi Hires Consultant

The councilman, who relishes his public image as a maverick who disdains conventional political behavior, said Thursday that he has hired veteran consultant Allan Hoffenblum to write his mailers and advise him on campaign strategy--the first time in more than two decades that he has employed such a professional.

“It’s a tough race and I’m not so stubborn that I won’t get the kind of help I need to win,” Bernardi said.

Hoffenblum, based in the South Bay, has worked mostly for Republicans.

Political analysts view Hall’s flurry of hard-hitting mailings, which were drafted by Newport Beach-based campaign consultant Harvey Englander, as responsible for forcing the race into a runoff.

Bernardi on Thursday also offered no apologies for a fund-raising reception, sharply criticized earlier in the week by Hall, being organized on the councilman’s behalf by council President John Ferraro.

At least 10 other council members are expected to attend, and a Ferraro spokesman said they have been asked to bring along veteran campaign contributors, including lobbyists, to boost Bernardi’s campaign.

Hall said the event, scheduled Wednesday at the private Los Angeles Athletic Club, “has the potential of smacking of elitism and being an attempt of the system to perpetuate itself.”

He also charged that the anticipated presence of lobbyists means that Bernardi supporters were “bringing in the influence brokers to muscle them for contributions.”

Bernardi said Thursday that his knowledge of the event was limited to newspaper accounts.

“But make no mistake about it, I welcome the support from John,” he said. “And I trust that what he arranges will be done in a proper manner.”