ELECTIONS / L.A. COUNCIL : Castaneda Drops Out of Contest in 7th District : The aide to Rep. Howard Berman says she entered the race too late to effectively campaign. A source says Berman thought her bid was detracting from his duties.

Just days after she fought her way back into the race to succeed City Councilman Ernani Bernardi, congressional aide Rose Castaneda dropped out Monday, saying she had entered too late to assemble an effective campaign.

“In hindsight, I can see that I should have begun preparations for a campaign and become a candidate much earlier,” she said. “I did not do that because I was trying to complete ongoing projects that I hated to leave in mid-stream.”

The announcement marked an end to a brief, turbulent campaign by Castaneda, a top aide to Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City). She had been expected to be a strong contender in the 7th Council District race with the help of Berman, who heads a powerful Los Angeles political organization along with Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles). Berman was deeply involved in her campaign, helping to line up money and labor union endorsements.

Castaneda’s candidacy was badly shaken last week when city elections officials disqualified her from the April 20 ballot for failing to properly date voter signatures required to certify her candidacy.

But officials quickly reversed themselves after Castaneda threatened a lawsuit claiming that the signatures were valid. Officials allowed enough of the disputed signatures to put her name on the ballot.

Her withdrawal Monday reduced to seven the field of candidates for Bernardi’s seat, which represents a heavily Latino swath of the northeast San Fernando Valley. Bernardi, 81, is stepping aside to run for mayor of Los Angeles.

Castaneda, 45, said she had entered the race “too late to put together the best planned, maximum campaign that I wanted.” She began raising money for the race in early January, after several other contenders.

Her fund raising had fallen behind projections, she said, and her late entry had cost her endorsements from community leaders who had gotten behind other candidates.

Castaneda said she made her decision to get out of the race over the weekend, after a Thursday night meeting with her campaign manager, Marc Litchman, and Berman at Berman’s Sherman Oaks home.

A former welfare mother and high school dropout, Castaneda was hired by Berman as a receptionist in 1986. The congressman appointed her his top local assistant in 1991.

Castaneda said her decision to quit was entirely personal and that she had not been advised to do so by Berman.

But a source close to the campaign said Berman thought he was spending too much time on Castaneda’s candidacy and wanted to give more attention to his Washington duties.

“Basically, he was sort of an alter candidate for Rose. He was raising all the money and having to deal with the ferocity of the campaign as if it were his own,” said the source, who requested anonymity.

“He just saw the fallacy of the campaign. . . . He didn’t say, ‘Don’t run.’ He said what everyone else did: ‘Do whatever’s best for you.’ . . . He didn’t back out on her.”

Asked if he felt too burdened in Washington to help Castaneda, Berman jokingly noted, “I do have a day job.” But he emphasized that the question of his availability to her campaign was only a small factor in her decision to quit.

He said he viewed her problems over the voter signatures as “another piece of evidence” that her campaign had begun too late.

“In my opinion, Rose is better than the whole field combined,” he said, referring to the other candidates. “She’s going to do this again at some point.”

Republican political consultant Paul Clarke said that Berman also may have worried that a poor showing by Castaneda would be a political setback for him, given his deep involvement in her campaign.

“It’d hurt him if someone as close to him as a key staff member was to do poorly,” said Clarke.

A onetime resident of the San Fernando Gardens housing project, Castaneda is perhaps best known in the east Valley for her efforts on behalf of public housing residents and gang members. For the last two years, she has organized weekly meetings in Pacoima Park at which gang members get advice about jobs and local schools.

But political observers have said that beyond such activities, Castaneda had little independent political support and, without massive backing from Berman, would be unable to mount a major campaign.

Castaneda, who spent Monday at home calling supporters and watching television, said she was not upset about being out of the race and may run again in the future. She said she would return to her job in Berman’s office today.

“This doesn’t change anything,” she said. “We’re still going to be saving lives and stopping crime and bringing employment into the district. Only we’re going to do it in Howard’s office.”

Other candidates noted that Castaneda’s absence from the race would give them an opening to seek union backing she had locked up or was courting. She was endorsed recently by four chapters of the International Assn. of Machinists representing 3,500 Valley-area workers.