Prince Considering Write-In Campaign

Businessman Walter Prince, who finished third in last week’s primary election for Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson’s seat, said Monday he is considering a write-in campaign against the two candidates in the runoff, Bernson and Julie Korenstein.

A campaign by Prince could significantly alter the dynamics of the runoff. It could pit Korenstein, a Los Angeles school board member, against Prince, a wealthy Northridge janitorial-firm owner, in a scramble to woo anti-Bernson voters.

Bernson, a 12-year incumbent, finished first in the April 9 primary with 34.7% of the vote. Korenstein placed second with 29%, while Prince was third with 15.2%. Print-shop owner Allen Hecht had 13.9% and two other candidates split the remainder of the vote.

During the primary campaign, Korenstein and Bernson’s other challengers repeatedly attacked Bernson for backing the mammoth Porter Ranch development, a tactic that appeared to weaken the conservative Republican. Although he led the balloting, Bernson fell far short of his goal of getting a 50%-plus-one vote majority and winning last week’s election outright.

Throughout the primary, Korenstein’s strategy was to force Bernson into a runoff and then rally enough voters who had backed other anti-Bernson candidates to beat the incumbent in June. Since the primary, she has privately courted Prince and Hecht, although both have said publicly they would not back her.

Korenstein’s campaign manager, Parke Skelton, warned that if Prince runs, Korenstein would make him her main target instead of Bernson “because we’ll be competing for the same votes.”

“Prince has a number of vulnerabilities that nobody explored in the primary,” Skelton said. “For instance, the fact that he never registered to vote until last year. And that’s just a start. . . . If he thinks Hal and Julie are the only people in the world with negatives, he’s in for a rude . . . awakening.”

Prince, 55, said he would make up his mind about running by the end of next week. He said he is considering a new campaign because he’s dissatisfied with both Bernson and Korenstein. He said many voters feel the same and are seeking an alternative candidate.

“I’m going to do some polling over the weekend and see what the folks in voter land think,” he said. “I’m not comfortable with either one of them being in office.”

But Prince--a longtime homeowner activist who has battled Bernson for years--said he is concerned that he might drain enough votes from Korenstein to give the election to Bernson.

“That’s one of my big fears,” he said. “That’s a calculated risk. And that’s what I’ve got to figure out in the next two weeks.”

Prince, however, said he is worried that if he does not run, Bernson might win reelection by effectively attacking Korenstein, which he largely refrained from doing in the primary. Prince said Bernson will probably remind voters of her volunteer campaign work for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the black civil rights leader and former presidential candidate, and her recent call for the resignation of Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates.

Under city law, Prince would be required to pay a $300 fee or obtain the signatures of at least 500 registered voters in the district to qualify as a write-in candidate. On Election Day, voters must write the name of a write-in candidate on the gray-colored wrapper surrounding their ballot before placing it in the ballot box.

But write-in candidates historically have had little success in California. Joe Giles, assistant chief of the city’s election division, said to his knowledge no write-in candidate has ever been elected in Los Angeles.

Bernson campaign manager Hal Dash said that if Prince stays out of the runoff, Bernson will pick up some of the voters who backed Prince in the primary. Also, if Prince gets into the race, Dash said, he will drain votes mostly from Korenstein.

But he said Bernson will not figure Prince into his runoff calculations unless he actually becomes a candidate.

“Let him put up or shut up,” Dash said. “He wants to see if there’s great public response . . . to the raising of the Prince banner. But is it real or is it Memorex? When he announces, I may get more excited about it. Right now it’s trial-balloon time.”

Skelton said that even with Prince in the race, he believes Korenstein will win. He said he believes the incumbent will get very few additional votes in the runoff, but that Korenstein will draw a large number of anti-Bernson votes.

Eric Rose, a Republican political consultant not aligned with any camp in the race, said that despite Prince’s 15% of the primary vote, he “would be lucky if he gets 1% of the vote” in the runoff.