Local Races Draw Slight Voter Interest

A fraction of Los Angeles voters are expected to vote today in a handful of runoff elections for the City Council, school district and community college system.

Twenty-five percent to 35% of registered voters are expected to cast ballots in the Mid-City 10th District and San Fernando Valley 12th District council races, according to Arlene P. Taylor, chief of the city clerk’s election division. Slightly fewer are expected to vote in the 5th District school board race, in which teacher Nellie Rios-Parra is challenging incumbent David Tokofsky. Officials predict fewer than 10% will vote in the community college elections.

The election’s low profile has not tempered the candidates’ rhetoric, however. All the races have been marked by complaints of negative campaigning and special interest influence.

Because of allegations of campaign violations in the 10th District, two election observers from the California secretary of state’s office will check in with precinct workers and election officials throughout the day to ensure that campaign laws are being followed, agency spokeswoman Terri Carbaugh said.

That race has been dominated by accusations of improper behavior. City Council aide Deron Williams and former labor organizer Martin Ludlow both have vowed to bring more economic development and opportunities for youth to the district, which stretches from Koreatown to West Adams.

Last month, Williams, a top aide to Councilman Nate Holden, acknowledged he was convicted on felony cocaine charges 15 years ago. Two weeks ago, a former campaign worker accused Williams of illegally funneling campaign contributions through a nonprofit church organization. The campaign has denied any impropriety.

Meanwhile, Ludlow has defended himself against charges that he would poorly manage city finances after acknowledging that he filed for bankruptcy in 1998, a consequence, he said, of a divorce. Ludlow has been heavily backed by organized labor, which had more than 600 union members knocking on doors on his behalf over the weekend.

In the northwest San Fernando Valley, Greig Smith, a longtime aide to retiring Councilman Hal Bernson, faces Julie Korenstein, a 16-year veteran of the Los Angeles school board.

The 12th District, a patchwork of horse ranches, tract homes and clogged intersections in the shadow of the Santa Susana Mountains, was a bastion of secession support. Both candidates have promised to make sure the Valley gets its fair share. Both also favor closing the Sunshine Canyon Landfill and giving more power to neighborhood councils.

But Korenstein said she favors a more managed approach to growth in the district, arguing that badly planned developments have created mammoth traffic jams and eroded the equestrian heritage of the area. Smith has said he does not oppose growth but believes it should be planned well. He also said he would amend city law to allocate money for police deployment and other services based on population, a formula that would benefit the 12th District.

The candidates have attacked each other’s records. Korenstein has accused Smith and Bernson of being beholden to developers and mishandling growth. Smith has attacked Korenstein’s performance on the school board, accusing her of breaking promises to build new schools and of not taking responsibility for dirty bathrooms.

Meanwhile, school board member Tokofsky faces a runoff against Rios-Parra, a Lennox schools administrator and teacher. The district includes mostly Latino communities, such as South Gate and East Los Angeles, and such liberal bastions as Silver Lake and Los Feliz.

In the last few weeks, the campaign has grown increasingly nasty. The candidates raised more than $1 million for phone banks, attack mailers and other campaign expenses.

The outcome is key to the political direction of the seven-member board. Tokofsky, who is seeking his third term, has been backed by United Teachers-Los Angeles, which donated $315,000 to his campaign. Rios-Parra is supported by the Coalition for Kids, the political action group led by financier Eli Broad and former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, which gave her $282,000 in cash and payment for mailers and services.

If Tokofsky wins and Korenstein loses her council bid and returns to the school board, the board would have a union-backed majority for the first time in four years.

Voters within the Los Angeles Community College District will decide on Proposition AA, a bond measure intended to repair and upgrade buildings and grounds at the district’s nine two-year colleges.

They also will elect a representative to the district’s board of trustees. Incumbent Mona Field, a Glendale Community College political science professor, faces businesswoman Joyce Burrell Garcia.

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Times staff writers Jessica Garrison and Peter Y. Hong contributed to this report.