Union Members Overrule Board, Endorse Hall : Politics: The union delegates vote to support the former president of city firefighters in his race to succeed Ernani Bernardi for L.A. City Council.

In a rare move, rank-and-file members of organized labor have overruled their political advisers and endorsed Fire Capt. Lyle Hall in the race to succeed Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi.

Delegates to a Los Angeles County Federation of Labor endorsement convention voted Monday night to back Hall, a former president of the city firefighters union, in the crowded contest for the 7th Council District, which covers the northeast San Fernando Valley.

The delegates rejected a recommendation made last week by the AFL-CIO federation’s Committee on Political Education that no endorsement be made in the race, in which a dozen candidates are competing.

The switch means that Hall has the full support of the 700,000-member labor federation, whose members contributed money and volunteered time to his strong but unsuccessful 1989 campaign against Bernardi. Hall is widely perceived as the leading contender for Bernardi’s seat this year. The 81-year-old incumbent is stepping aside to run for mayor.

Hall’s opponents last week had seized on his failure to win COPE’s blessing, saying that without labor’s backing, his candidacy could unravel. But on Tuesday, they expressed surprise--and irritation--that he clinched the federation’s endorsement after all.

“They endorsed him? They endorsed him? You’re kidding me,” exclaimed rival candidate Raymond Joseph Magana, after learning of the vote.

Magana, a Sylmar attorney, was one of three Latino candidates for the 7th District seat who had lobbied COPE executive board members not to endorse any candidate in the district, whose population is 70% Latino. The district’s boundaries were redrawn last summer to improve the odds that a Latino would win.

Magana complained that he had received “some assurances” from COPE officials that “this was going to be an open race.”

Prior to the COPE vote, Magana had enlisted the help of City Councilman Mike Hernandez, who urged labor officials not to make any endorsement. Another candidate, Rose Castaneda, received lobbying assistance from Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City). Castaneda is on leave from her job as Berman’s top local aide.

Typically, labor federation delegates ratify all COPE recommendations. Their refusal to do so in Hall’s case marked the only one of COPE’s 15 recommendations on upcoming city election races that was rejected Monday.

Jim Wood, the labor federation’s assistant secretary-treasurer, said 110 delegates were present for the Monday vote, and gave Hall the necessary two-thirds approval to win an endorsement. He declined to give an exact vote count.

Wood said that the COPE vote last week went against Hall in part because some members of the COPE executive board have ties to other candidates. But the delegates who voted Monday included many longtime friends and supporters of Hall in the union movement, Wood said.

“They know Lyle personally . . . It’s not just a political endorsement. It’s a decision about a guy they’ve cooked hotdogs with at labor picnics for the past 10 years,” Wood said. “I think there’s a commitment to him that’s not just political. I think it was personal.”

Hall, who was not present for the Monday vote, said he had not lobbied any delegates to support him.

“It turned around because I think the delegates, who are rank and file workers . . . recognized and appreciated that I am one of their own,” Hall said. “I’m thrilled and proud to have the support of the actual working men and women.”

Hall added that he was pleased that the delegates were not influenced by “the downtown power brokers and people from Washington, D.C.” who lobbied COPE members.