Council Campaign a 7-Candidate Race

Your article, “Bernson’s Challengers Pin Hopes on a Runoff” (Feb. 17) by a staff writer, who had theoretically interviewed all the seven contestants in the 12th Council District race, showed clearly that he had not spoken to any candidates except the incumbent and Julie Korenstein, with a passing comment to Al Hecht. Your writer never contacted me, although I called him twice, nor did he speak to Arthur Kagele, Ronald Michelman or Walter Prince.

If only two candidates were contacted, even though the headline refers to “challengers,” how could anything other than a slanted presentation have resulted? Evidently Times staff has determined that the race is only a Korenstein-Bernson battle, and the others are in it for the exercise. The point is that this type of prophecy becomes self-fulfilling!

The poll that you mentioned showed convincingly that only 27% of the scientific voter sample contacted were backing Bernson, 47% stated that they would back “any” candidate against Bernson, and only 14% said their opposition would depend on who the candidate was. Twelve percent didn’t know. This means that 61% of the electorate is against Bernson, and 47% would vote for unnamed candidates! Where does the writer draw the inference from these statistics that this is a two-person race between Korenstein and Bernson?

I believe a great injustice has been done, both to the voters and to the hard-working scarcely mentioned five candidates.

LEONARD SHAPIRO

Granada Hills