Gates Backs Bernson Reelection

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates endorsed embattled City Councilman Hal Bernson for reelection Friday, saying he was “shocked at the attacks on Hal’s record” by challenger Julie Korenstein.

A Korenstein spokesman said the endorsement was improper and criticized Gates and Bernson for injecting politics into the Police Department at a time when it is under intense scrutiny because of the Rodney G. King beating.

Gates’ endorsement came in the form of a letter signed by the chief and mailed by Bernson’s campaign to several thousand voters. Bernson, a longtime Gates ally, has vocally opposed efforts to remove the chief from his job in the wake of the King incident.

Gates’ endorsement of Bernson came less than three weeks before the June 4 runoff election between Bernson and Korenstein, a Los Angeles school board member.

Bernson spokesman Greig Smith said the Gates letter was “a huge endorsement” in Bernson’s moderate-to-conservative district. But a Korenstein spokesman said Bernson’s support for the mammoth Porter Ranch project is the main issue in the campaign, not crime.