Elections Claim Many Unseen Victims : Most elections bring on some changes, but this time it’s different. This time, City Hall is going through an overhaul.

There was a birthday party the other day in Councilwoman Joy Picus’ City Hall office. It wasn’t anything elaborate. Just a little break for cookies and coffee.

The mood, I was told, was more “mellow” than melancholy. At least that’s how Joy Newell, Picus’ press aide, described it. So I thought I might drop by to check on the unsung victims of last Tuesday’s election.

It was polite, but dumb, to seek permission. Council offices receive unannounced visitors all the time, especially reporters. Newell checked with her colleagues and called me back.

“I asked and they said no.”

So maybe it was a mellow kind of melancholy.

Next, I called Councilman Ernani Bernardi’s staff, expecting a better reception. With many absentee ballots still uncounted and Richard Alarcon leading Lyle Hall by just 164 votes, this race is still suspenseful. At least these staffers knew that their boss, Bernardi, was retiring.

But they didn’t feel up to it either. It’s hard to be sociable, it seems, when you’re a white-collar worker who needs to find a job in Los Angeles in the summer of 1993.

Most elections bring on some changes, but this time it’s different. This time it’s not just the people in one or two council offices who will be clearing out and looking for new jobs. This time, City Hall is going through an overhaul. Mayor Tom Bradley and council members Picus, Bernardi, Mike Woo and Joan Milke Flores are all vacating the premises, and so will the vast majority of their staff members. Mayor-elect Richard Riordan and the new council members are all expected to bring in their own people.

“There’s a tremendous number of people leaving city service that will not be relocated in City Hall or the city universe, and they will be shuffling out into the private sector,” said Ted Goldstein, a spokesman for City Atty. James K. Hahn.

In 24 years at City Hall, Goldstein’s never seen so much turnover. Among people who make their living around City Hall politics, Goldstein is a survivor. He was a reporter for two Valley papers before he joined former Councilman Bob Wilkinson’s staff in 1969. Goldstein next worked for Hal Bernson, who succeeded Wilkinson in the northwest Valley district. Next, Goldstein became a deputy to then-City Controller Ira Reiner, who climbed the ladder to district attorney. By the time Reiner’s star flamed out, Goldstein was back at City Hall, working for Hahn.

Once upon a time, Goldstein says, the victims of political fallout wouldn’t have had it so hard. They could have joined the staff of a political ally, landed a civil service job in City Hall or hooked up with the lobbying wing of a major corporation. But now, he says, political staffs are being cut back, City Hall has a hiring freeze and big firms are downsizing their government relations divisions.

“If some of these people feel they can go out and open firms as government relations people, they’ll find there seems to be enough of those firms already,” he adds.

Nor does he expect Dick Riordan or the new council members to have many openings reserved for people now serving other politicians, regardless of their experience and expertise.

“It just stands to reason that you take someone from the trenches with you,” Goldstein said. “Especially in this election season, the key word has been change . ... The electorate probably expects to see change in the staff as well as the helm.

“And I think this is a good thing. It’s beneficial for the city at large to bring in fresh faces and fresh perspectives. . . . And there are people like myself to offer continuity and assistance and doctrinations as to how one rolls the monkey through City Hall.”

Goldstein, of course, might not feel this way if he was packing up his desk and somebody else was left behind to give monkey-rolling lessons. But politics is politics, Goldstein suggests. The simple fact is many of them came into City Hall as loyal, capable campaign workers themselves. “What goes around, comes around,” Goldstein said.

Certainly many people will land on their feet. Some may well find a better job.

And with all these look-alike resumes floating around and not enough jobs, some may not find another job for a long, long time.

“Some of us have a lot of experience and things to offer,” said one council aide who’s wondering how to pay the rent next month. “There’s no union, no severance pay. It’s just goodby.

“But you know the risk. . . . And, really, I don’t know if there is safety in any job. I used to think banks would be a nice, secure setting, but they have a way of merging. So what’s safe. . . ?

“I wish you hadn’t picked this as a subject. I wish you had picked something else. You’re giving me a headache.”

Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Readers can write to Harris at The Times Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311