CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS 12TH DISTRICT : Bernson Says Chief Gates Will Speak at His Campaign Rally

Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson said Thursday that Police Chief Daryl F. Gates will speak at a campaign rally for him this weekend, generating more controversy over Gates’ repeated efforts to aid the embattled councilman in the June 4 runoff election.

Bernson has been waging the fiercest reelection struggle of his 12-year council career against Los Angeles school board member Julie Korenstein, who has repeatedly attacked him for his long support of the controversial Porter Ranch project.

Two weeks ago, Gates moved to help Bernson, a longtime City Hall ally, with an enthusiastic endorsement letter that Bernson’s campaign mailed to thousands of voters in his 12th Council District.

The letter was written on personal stationery and did not identify Gates as police chief.

In the letter, Gates urged residents to cast ballots for Bernson, saying he has “worked hard to keep San Fernando Valley neighborhoods safe.” The chief also disputed a claim by Korenstein that the number of crimes in the 12th District jumped 73% during Bernson’s tenure, saying she either did not understand crime statistics or was “deliberately misrepresenting the facts.”

In April, during a City Hall rally held to demonstrate public support for the chief in the wake of the Rodney G. King beating, Gates urged those present to assist Bernson’s reelection effort, according to a spokesman for the group that organized the event. The chief was not in uniform during that rally.

Gates’ endorsement letter was condemned by Korenstein’s campaign and by city Police Commissioner Stanley Sheinbaum, who said it was “inappropriate for anyone at the top of the Police Department. . .to be campaigning for anyone on the City Council.”

Following an hourlong radio debate Thursday with Korenstein, Bernson said Gates will appear with him during a campaign rally Saturday at a Granada Hills park.

The event will kick off a precinct-walking drive extending through Election Day, the councilman said.

Gates could not be reached for comment Thursday.

A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman, Cmdr. Robert Gil, declined to confirm the appearance but said that Bernson’s statement that Gates will be there is “a good guideline.”

Gil said the Constitution entitles Gates to endorse any political candidate he chooses, and added that the chief conducts his political activities during his off-duty hours and as a private citizen.

But H. Eric Schockman, associate director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California, said Gates’ action constitutes an “abrogation of ethical standards.”

By endorsing one City Council candidate over another, Schockman said, Gates may give voters the impression that the candidate with his blessing can obtain better police services for their district.

Schockman added that he has no evidence Gates has exercised such favoritism.

Schockman said the chief is backing Bernson to curry favor with the City Council, whose members have given him strong support at a time when the Police Department is under intense scrutiny in the aftermath of the King beating and calls for Gates’ resignation have been widespread.

The council protected Gates from being forced to take an involuntary leave ordered by the Police Commission over the King affair.

At the same time, Schockman said, the chief is trying to demonstrate to other council members how important his backing can be among crime-conscious voters in a close election.

If the chief can put council members in his debt politically, he is in a stronger position to persuade them to approve budget increases for the department, Schockman said.

Bernson responded that Gates has no need to curry favor with council members.

“With his record, his 22 years in the department, I think he has the respect of the entire council,” Bernson said.

During his debate with Korenstein, broadcast by station KGIL-AM in Mission Hills, Bernson again attacked her for urging Gates’ resignation shortly after the King beating in March.

He said that after she became aware of Gates’ popularity in the 12th District, Korenstein tried to backtrack from that position.

Korenstein said she was “misquoted by the press” in reports that she called for Gates to quit and that her original position had not changed.

“I said I felt he should voluntarily step down. He was going to retire, we heard, in August,” she said. “I hoped this would help mend the wounds in the city of Los Angeles.”

Korenstein said she later opposed Gates’ suspension by the Police Commission, a decision that was later effectively overturned by the City Council.

Bernson said that at a candidates’ forum in March, Korenstein said “very clearly . . . he should resign.”

She later altered her position “as soon as she found out it was politically unpopular,” he said.

Korenstein said her opponent was raising the Gates issue again only to divert attention from what she said is the central issue in the race: the mammoth Porter Ranch project north of Chatsworth.

She has claimed that the development, designed to house more than 11,000 people, is an “environmental catastrophe” that will bring tremendous traffic congestion, pollution and overpopulation to the northwest Valley.