Local Elections : Judge Karlin’s Win Baffles Black Leaders

For Los Angeles County’s black community, the hard-fought campaign to push Superior Court Judge Joyce A. Karlin out of office could have been a watershed, a realization of a long-held dream to translate anger over perceived racial injustice into action at the polls.

Instead, on Wednesday, black leaders were both sad and bewildered over the controversial judge’s narrow primary victory the night before--a win that appeared to have been fueled by heavy support from Anglo voters and low turnout and registration in black neighborhoods.

“Even though we tried to keep the issue alive, people that should have voted didn’t,” said a subdued Patricia Moore, the Compton councilwoman who is heading a recall effort against Karlin. “Our attention span is very short, unfortunately. Those who could have made the difference didn’t really do as much as they could have done.”

Attorney Cynthia McClain-Hill, who publishes a political newsletter geared toward African-Americans, said: “Bottom line, it means that there weren’t enough votes. It re-emphasized the need to mobilize, and to take your anger and dissatisfaction to the ballot box. . . . On the other hand, I was very pleased to see that it was such a battle.”

Karlin, who has been at the center of controversy over her decision to grant probation to a Korean-born grocer in the killing of a black teen-ager, squeaked past her three opponents with just 50.7% of the vote. With more than 1.2 million people casting ballots, her victory was determined by 8,360 votes.

A Times review of voting patterns showed that Karlin drew few votes in largely black and inner-city communities, while she consistently drew above-average support in white and suburban communities.

For instance, in the three Los Angeles City Council districts with the largest proportion of black voters, Karlin drew just 7%, 11% and 21% of the vote. In the three districts with the heaviest proportion of Anglo voters, she drew 57%, 59% and 61% of the vote--well above her countywide average.

In the largely black cities of Compton and Inglewood, Karlin drew 6.5% and 11.7% of the vote, respectively. In the community of Willowbrook, she captured an astonishingly low 0.6% of the vote.

In contrast, Karlin enjoyed big margins of victory in largely Anglo Agoura Hills, Beverly Hills and her hometown of Manhattan Beach with 58.5%, 64.3%, and 65% of the vote, respectively.

Had Karlin not won a countywide majority, she would have been forced into a runoff with her closest contender, Deputy Atty. Gen. Bob Henry. Instead, she beat Henry--who ran a low-profile, low-budget campaign and still got 24.7% of the vote--by a 2-1 margin.

On Wednesday, the judge hailed her victory as “a triumph for a free and impartial justice system.” In a prepared statement issued through her campaign manager, Karlin added: “All of us would lose if a small, vocal minority were allowed to impose its will on the majority. . . . This election marks a triumph of rational judgment, and the principle that justice is not for sale and never will be.”

The Karlin race was the most visible judicial election in California since voters ousted Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird in 1986. While the lightning-rod issue in the Bird race was the death penalty, the Karlin race focused on the judge’s decision in the case of grocer Soon Ja Du, who shot 15-year-old Latasha Harlins in the back of the head after the two fought over a bottle of orange juice.

The contest was beset by racial tensions, with the judge’s critics charging that her ruling had devalued the life of a black child. Karlin responded by stressing the theme of an independent judiciary.

The judge, who is white, faced three opponents: Henry, a black, Harvard-educated lawyer; Thomasina Reed, a black attorney who specializes in family law and also serves on the Inglewood school board; and Donald Barnett, a white personal injury lawyer from Century City.

Reed came in third with 14.9% of the vote. Barnett--the only candidate who spent more money than Karlin and the only one to run television advertisements--finished last, with 9.9%. Ironically, Barnett had obtained the endorsement of the Latasha Harlins Justice Committee, composed of family and friends of the slain girl; committee members said they believed that as a well-funded white man, he had the best chance of beating Karlin.

On Wednesday, a disappointed Gina Rae, spokeswoman for the committee, said: “We lost another battle but she is not the winner. I will never declare her the winner.”

Indeed, Tuesday’s election does not mean Karlin’s battles are over. Rae and others said Wednesday that they will continue to work toward recalling Karlin. Danny Bakewell, president of the Brotherhood Crusade, said his organization had received more than 50 calls from people wanting to volunteer to help with the recall effort.

Yet even if the recall backers obtain the necessary 304,000 registered signatures to put the issue on the November ballot--and even if they win--Karlin would only be recalled for one month. That is because the recall applies to her current term--which ends Dec. 31, 1992--and does not apply to the new term she won Tuesday, which runs from 1993 to 1999.

Political analysts said several factors, among them the ethnic mix of voters, may have contributed to Karlin’s victory.

It is possible that her plea for an independent judiciary swayed some voters. In addition, the judge has much higher name recognition than any of her opponents, and some name recognition--even if it comes from negative publicity--often is better than none at all.

Moreover, the judge’s three opponents probably diffused anti-Karlin sentiment among voters. Had there been one highly visible candidate running against Karlin, he or she might have been able to win.

And as is often the case in judicial elections, some voters may have known little about the issues and cast ballots for Karlin simply because she was listed as the incumbent judge. Said political consultant Joe Cerrell, whose firm managed Karlin’s campaign: “I think a hell of a lot of people went into that polling place and did not know. Then they start looking at titles.”

The election came on the heels of the Los Angeles riots spawned by not guilty verdicts in the Rodney G. King beating case. Although the riots heightened tensions between blacks and Korean-Americans, political observers said it is difficult to tell what, if any, role the urban unrest played in the Karlin race.

And while community leaders said they are not concerned about additional violence over Karlin’s victory, interviews at the Compton courthouse--where Karlin sat until she was transferred to Juvenile Court--made it clear that in the black community the anger has not subsided.

“The people who are really upset are so disillusioned--they don’t even want to take the time to vote,” said Kenneth Brown, a 22-year-old security guard who did not vote in Tuesday’s race. “The system never works for us. Look what happened to Rodney King. . . . All that personal experience, it all builds up to the point where you don’t want to deal with these things anymore or even think about them.”

Times staff writer Hector Tobar contributed to this story.