Bernson Leaves LAFCO Leadership Post

Hoping to head off the appearance of favoritism in handling a study of San Fernando Valley cityhood, Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson took himself out of the running for chairman of an agency overseeing the review by stepping down Wednesday as vice chairman.

If Bernson had stayed vice chairman of the Local Agency Formation Commission, he would have been in line to take over the panel when Chairman Tom Jackson leaves the agency next spring.

Jackson, who was reelected chairman by the commission on Wednesday, will lose his position in March when he leaves the Huntington Park City Council. Jackson decided not to run for reelection to the council after drawing a barrage of criticism from Latino groups over comments they believed were anti-immigrant.

Bernson, who played a key role in a previous Valley secession push two decades ago, said it would be better not to have a Valley resident as leader of the nine-person commission overseeing the Valley cityhood study.

“Because of the secession issue, I think it would be better for someone outside the Valley to chair LAFCO,” said Bernson, who will stay on the commission in a non-leadership position. He said his busy schedule also played a role in his decision to step down.

Bernson, who lives in Granada Hills, said he believes he can be objective about Valley cityhood, but thought taking over as chairman would only give opponents of secession ammunition to challenge the study.

The councilman nominated LAFCO member Henri Pellissier of Whittier as vice chairman, and the panel unanimously approved the appointment.

Pellissier is a retired businessman and former member of the Whittier school board.

The move was supported by LAFCO alternate Richard Close, who is chairman of the pro-secession group Valley VOTE.

“What happened today is a reflection of the feeling that the chair should be someone who is seen as neutral,” Close said. “To maintain neutrality, it probably would be better if he [Bernson] would not become chair, because if he did, he could be accused of using his position to favor the Valley.”

Close said he believes most LAFCO members favor putting Valley and Harbor cityhood on the ballot if a pending study shows it will not financially harm the new cities or the remainder of Los Angeles.

In that case, having Bernson as chairman of LAFCO “would just have created unnecessary controversy,” Close said.

SECESSION DELAYS: Meanwhile, LAFCO has scheduled a meeting with Los Angeles city leaders to discuss concerns about delays in the city’s delivery of information on city assets and revenues to a private consultant conducting the financial study for LAFCO.

The city originally promised to deliver all the requested data to LAFCO by the end of this month, but so far only 55% of the information requested in July has been provided, according to Larry Calemine, executive director of the agency. The meeting will be held to “work out how we can speed up the processing of the data,” Calemine told the commission, adding that the process “is just dragging a little behind.”

Some officials are concerned about the delays affecting LAFCO’s ability to put the cityhood proposals on the ballot in November 2002.

Key pieces of data still not delivered include a breakdown of where city revenue comes from.

“The LAFCO folks are complaining,” conceded Bill Fujioka, the city’s top administrator. He said part of the problem is that LAFCO’s initial requests for data were unclear and had to be revised. Another hitch has been the large amount of data requested.

“It’s an enormous undertaking,” Fujioka said, adding that the data is flowing much better now.

NONTAXING ENDORSEMENTS: The 43rd Assembly District may be predominantly Democratic, but residents of the district--which extends from Glendale to Los Feliz--are as conservative as any voters when it comes to their pocketbooks.

So the latest endorsements of Republican candidate Craig Missakian should give him a boost. Missakian said Wednesday he is being backed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. and the National Tax Limitation Committee in his race against Democrat Dario Frommer.

NONSTICK SURFACE: Sometimes slung mud doesn’t stick.

That appeared to be partly the case this week when state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) went on the attack against endorsements received by Rep. James E. Rogan (R-Glendale) in the race for Rogan’s congressional seat.

It began when a Schiff campaign consultant called on Rogan to disassociate himself from three senior citizen advocacy groups that Schiff’s campaign criticized for using scare tactics to obtain contributions from seniors.

Parke Skelton, a campaign consultant for Schiff, charged that the groups--the 60 Plus Assn., United Seniors Assn., and the Seniors Coalition--are “bogus groups” that exist primarily to enrich conservative direct-mail businessman Richard Viguerie and that “engage in the most despicable types of scare tactics.”

In particular, Skelton said the groups have solicited contributions with mailers that led seniors to believe they could lose their Social Security benefits.

He also said there had been federal investigations into some of the groups’ fund-raising practices, but a check of records finds that none of the groups has been charged with wrongdoing.

All three groups have been touted by Rogan in his campaign mailers for giving him awards.

Jim Martin, chairman of 60 Plus Assn., said his group is a legitimate senior advocacy group with 500,000 members and seven lobbyists in Washington. He said Viguerie received 6% of the money the group collected last year for his fund-raising services. “We’ve heard these charges before,” Martin said. “I’ve never paid a penalty. I’ve never been indicted.”

Any allegations were made years ago, before the groups endorsed Rogan in the current race.

An official with the best known senior advocacy group, the American Assn. of Retired Persons, confirmed that the groups are advocating for seniors in Washington. Martin said the criticisms of his group have been levied by more liberal senior advocacy groups.

Rogan released a statement later Tuesday accusing Schiff of misleading voters and charging that Schiff is aligned with other, more controversial groups.

“These charges [by Schiff] are years old and never led to criminal charges or convictions,” said Jeff Solsby, a spokesman for Rogan.

Solsby said Schiff has touted an endorsement by the California Congress of Seniors, which he charged is a “left-wing front group for organized labor” that has staged anti-Rogan events in possible violation of rules against tax-exempt groups engaging in partisan politics.

NIX FROM KNOX: Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles) has decided against running for Los Angeles city attorney or city controller in April, he announced Wednesday, noting that other well-known candidates have been fund-raising and campaigning for the jobs for months.

“It’s simply too late to enter those races,” Knox said.

Term limits are forcing Knox in December to leave his Assembly seat, which represents an area including parts of Sherman Oaks, Universal City, Studio City, Beverly Hills, Westwood and West Hollywood.

Knox ran unsuccessfully against Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) in the March primary for the state Senate. He has since been seriously considering a run for city office.

The lawmaker said he loves public service and may run for office again someday.

In the meantime:

“Right now, I’m giving consideration to a number of very interesting jobs in the private sector that would be challenging,” Knox said.

His decision is sure to draw a sigh of relief from those who have already begun campaigning for city attorney, including City Councilman Mike Feuer, county prosecutor Lea Purwin D’Agostino and Deputy Mayor Rocky Delgadillo, as well as the front-running city controller candidate, Councilwoman Laura Chick.

POLLING FEVER: Republican candidate Jayne Murphy Shapiro is encouraged by a new poll commissioned by her campaign that indicates the vast majority of voters in the 41st Assembly District are up for grabs.

The poll, conducted Sept. 19, found that 20% of likely voters in the heavily Democratic district favored Democrat Fran Pavley of Agoura Hills, 17% favored Shapiro, and 63% were undecided, with the election less than two months away.