Horowitz Accuses Korenstein of Misusing School District Car

Los Angeles school board candidate Jerry Horowitz charged Wednesday that incumbent Julie Korenstein is misusing school district equipment--and misleading voters--in her reelection campaign.

Horowitz complained that Korenstein is using an official Board of Education automobile for campaign appearances. And he asserted that Korenstein falsely announced that she has suspended her campaign activity to concentrate on ending the strike, as a way to avoid debating him.

Korenstein denied both accusations. She said Horowitz’s supporters have shadowed her around the San Fernando Valley, photographing and harassing her.

The attacks came less than two weeks before the June 6 runoff election in which Horowitz, principal of Byrd Junior High School, is seeking to unseat Korenstein.

Horowitz said that twice on Wednesday Korenstein violated her 24-hour-old pledge to suspend campaign activities. He produced photographs taken by his supporters that he said showed that Korenstein improperly used a school district car for campaign appearances at radio station KGIL in Mission Hills and at a Granada Hills supermarket.

Korenstein said her radio interview involved school district issues and the strike, not her reelection campaign. And she said her supermarket appearance was only to voice opposition to crowding of schools that a controversial Porter Ranch development might cause.

She said she had to use the telephone-equipped district car “because we’re in the middle of a strike, and I have to be in contact with the district every 15 minutes.”