Decision ’93 / A Look at the Elections in Los Angeles County : Los Angeles City Council : Two races are wide open because the incumbents have quit to run for mayor. Some members seeking reelection are in tough fights. : 7TH DISTRICT : Rainbow of Contenders Seek to Replace Bernardi

The impending departure of City Councilman Ernani Bernardi, a crusty octogenarian who has held office since 1961, opens the door to a historic possibility: the election of the San Fernando Valley’s first Latino council member.

The population of Bernardi’s 7th District is 70% Latino. Its boundaries were specifically redrawn by the City Council last year to create a Latino seat.

Moreover, three Latinos are among seven candidates seeking to succeed Bernardi. Two of them--Sylmar attorney Raymond Magana and Richard Alarcon, Mayor Tom Bradley’s top Valley aide--are considered contenders.

But the Latino seat may not be Latino at all. Political observers note that 48% of the district’s registered voters are Anglos, making them the biggest voting bloc. Only 31% are Latinos. Nineteen percent are African-Americans.

Those realities have produced a wide-open race featuring a rainbow of candidates: three Anglos, three Latinos and one African-American.

Besides Magana and Alarcon, they are LeRoy Chase Jr., who is African-American, head of the Boys & Girls Club of the San Fernando Valley; Al Dib, a produce wholesaler and the lone Republican in the race; Anne V. Finn, widow of former Councilman Howard Finn, who represented much of the area until he died in 1986; city Fire Capt. Lyle E. Hall, who forced Bernardi into a 1989 runoff election, and Henry R. Villafana, a schoolteacher and the third Latino in the race.

Although Hall was widely considered the front-runner in the early going, Magana sprinted to an initial fund-raising lead. But some observers say that the presence of three Latinos in the race may fragment the Latino vote so badly that two Anglos will emerge from the election and go on to a June runoff. Some observers see Hall being pitted against Dib or Finn.

The seat is open because Bernardi, 81, pledged not to seek reelection after his 1989 campaign. He kept that promise but surprised many people by running for mayor.

The district is a largely blue-collar area including Pacoima and other poor, crime-troubled parts of the northeast Valley.

The race has included an intense but unsuccessful behind-the-scenes drive by Latino candidates to deny Hall an endorsement by organized labor.

Magana, Alarcon and a candidate who has since dropped out, Rose Castaneda, successfully lobbied members of the Los Angeles County Labor Federation’s political arm to withhold an endorsement from Hall last month.

That was a setback for Hall, a former president of the city firefighters union. But then rank-and-file union members later voted to back him after all.

Dib, who is Anglo, offended many Latinos when he said that he “can tell by their faces” whether Latinos are U.S. citizens. He made the comment in explaining how he gathered voters’ signatures to place his name on the ballot.

Several Latino candidates privately discussed how to respond to the remark. The possibilities included publicly criticizing Dib, who is backed by another Valley councilman, Hal Bernson.

They decided to do nothing as a group and asked a local chapter of the Mexican-American Political Assn. to hold a news conference condemning Dib. It never materialized.

The hesitancy to gang up on Dib along ethnic lines, some observers say, reflects the Latino candidates’ perception that they need Anglo votes to win.

The Latino candidates also have tiptoed around another racially charged issue: the proposed breakup of the Los Angeles school system. Answering Times questionnaires, Alarcon and Villafana took no position on the issue and Magana voiced support of it after first taking no position. The three Anglo candidates support the breakup.

The Times poll shows that Anglos are more likely than others to support the breakup, which is viewed in some quarters as a reflection of Anglo hostility toward multiethnic Los Angeles.

Arturo Vargas, a vice president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said in a conversation about Latinos running in Anglo-dominated areas: “You cannot outright be a pro-Latino candidate because you don’t have the base to do that.”

A Latino candidate who asked not to be identified said: “You can’t get suckered into a black-Latino issue or an Anglo-Latino issue.”

With candidates struggling to raise campaign funds in a low-income district during a recession, the race has been a fairly low-intensity affair. Observers expect a flurry of direct mail advertisements (and perhaps some mudslinging) as the campaign enters its final days.

Ethnicity aside, the candidates agree that crime and unemployment are the chief issues in the district. They are split on a ballot proposal to raise property taxes to finance 1,000 more police officers.

Alarcon and Finn favor the idea. Dib, Hall, Magana, Villafana and Chase oppose it.

Those against the tax suggest a variety of ways to finance more police officers. Several favor hiring reserve officers and allowing civilians to replace sworn officers in desk jobs.

Villafana has perhaps the most attention-grabbing idea. He would give up half of his councilman’s salary and forgo a city car to pay for increased police overtime.

“I have an old pickup that serves me well,” he said.

All the contenders emphasize their longtime community involvement.

Finn, 77, cited an additional reason.

“I tell you frankly that I’m here because I was once married to a great man,” she said. “Somehow, I want to continue the traditions of a great man.”

The Candidates Richard Anthony Alarcon, 39, is services coordinator for the mayor’s San Fernando Valley office. He is taking vacation time to run for office. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Cal State Northridge. He is married and has four children.

LeRoy Chase Jr. 48, is the executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of the San Fernando Valley in Pacoima. He attended East Los Angeles College and received a bachelor’s degree in health education, recreation administration and physical education from the University of Utah. He is married and has three daughters.

Albert Dib, 59, is a businessman who buys produce and sells it to chain stores. He attended Los Angeles City College, the Juilliard School of Music in New York and Walsh College of Accountancy and Business Administration in Michigan. He is married and has eight children.

Anne V. Finn, 77, is on a leave of absence as a member of the city’s Handicapped Access Appeals Board. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin. The widow of Councilman Howard Finn, she has three daughters.

Lyle Everrett Hall, 53, is a Los Angeles fire captain. He has attended UCLA, USC and Loyola University. He is married and has six children.

Raymond Joseph Magana, 37, is a former lawyer who served as a field deputy for Councilman Ernani Bernardi. He left the city job in September to run for office. He received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Cal State Northridge and his law degree from UC Davis. He is married and has two children.

Henry Reyes Villafana, 29, is a teacher at Telfair Elementary School in Pacoima. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from USC. He is single.

Leading Issues Economic development: Joblessness, plant closures are a major issue. General Motors plant closed last year. Hall says City Hall should adopt a more business-friendly attitude, tax breaks and reduced permit requirements, especially for small businesses. Dib wants changes in environmental and worker compensation rules. Alarcon wants citywide economic plan. Magana, Hall say the GM plant should be used to build advanced mass transit vehicles.

Crime: To fight gangs and drugs, Hall urges hiring reserve police officers and replacing deskbound cops with civilians. Finn sees police money in privatizing some city services and creative spending cuts. All but Dib say banning new liquor stores would cut crime. Dib opposes a ban but wants the number of liquor outlets reduced in high-crime areas. Alarcon, Finn support raising property tax to hire 1,000 officers. Villafana would donate half his $90,680-a-year council salary to police overtime.

Privatization: Dib, Chase, Villafana, Finn support turning over city services like garbage collection to private operators to save money or generate income. Hall, Magana, Alarcon aren’t convinced; Magana says contracted-out services sometimes cost more.

Term limits: Hall, Dib, Magana favor two-term maximum for elected officials. Alarcon favors unspecified limits that give elected officials time to learn government. Finn, Chase oppose limits, Chase saying they rob voters of right to keep good representatives.