10 WHO DARE FOR VALLEY MAYOR CANDIDATES DREAM OF BETTER LIVING THROUGH GOVERNMENT.

Byline: James Nash Staff Writer

The men who want to be mayor of the San Fernando Valley city range in age from the 30s to the 80s and in political views from Democrat to Libertarian. The candidates are African-American, white, Latino and more.

They are rich, middle class and lower-income. Several are political neophytes and gadflies, while one is a member of the California Assembly and another served on the MTA board.

What unites the 10 people who want to lead the proposed new city of 1.3 million is a simple idea: A smaller, more representative government that could respond to the everyday needs of residents better than Los Angeles has.

On Nov. 5, at the same time voters decide whether the Valley will separate from Los Angeles, Valley residents will choose a mayor and 14 city council members to govern the new city if it is created.

Leaders of the Valley cityhood campaign said they're pleased with the diversity and size of the field. The secession proponents downplayed the relative lack of political experience of most candidates, saying the officeholders would not be big-money politicians using the mayor's position as a steppingstone to another office.

``There are a number of them that I would be comfortable with as Valley mayor,'' said Richard Katz, co-chairman of the Valley Independence Committee. ``All of them have a much better understanding of why the Valley is at this point. They're not beholden to the downtown power group.''

As the only citywide elected official in the new municipality, the mayor would serve as the leader and public face of what would be the nation's sixth-largest city as it forms an identity separate from Los Angeles, secession proponents said.

Kam Kuwata, adviser to L.A. Mayor James Hahn's anti-secession campaign, declined to comment on the candidates' qualifications, saying he didn't know enough about their backgrounds. But Kuwata said none of the candidates has articulated how he would improve services in the Valley while reducing taxes.

``How are they going to pay for everything that they claim to provide - more services and faster services - and cut taxes?'' Kuwata asked.

Voice of the whole

A Valley mayor would focus on Valley needs and would lobby for state and federal funds, said Richard Close, head of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, which pushed to get secession on the ballot. Close said he envisions a Valley run by citizen-legislators who serve for a few years and never lose touch with the communities that elected them.

``They won't be pandering to the unions, pandering to developers,'' Close said. ``They're just trying to make the Valley a better place to work and live in.''

Of the 10 candidates, only one - Keith S. Richman, a first-term Republican assemblyman from Northridge - has held elective office.

Mel Wilson served on the boards of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Los Angeles Fire Commission and the San Fernando Valley Transit Zone Joint Powers Authority as an appointee.

Richman and Wilson have established campaign offices and are generally regarded as front-runners in the race.

Wilson hasn't always favored Valley secession. But during years of selling real estate from his offices in Woodland Hills and Calabasas, he grew disenchanted with what he says is a business-unfriendly attitude in Los Angeles. Wilson, the general manager of the Woodland Hills and Calabasas Re/Max offices, vows to cut business taxes in the Valley.

Wilson said the tax cut would entice businesses to move to the Valley or expand, stimulating the local economy and bringing revenue to the new city to enhance police and firefighter pensions, build environmentally sensitive public-transit networks, and build at least four minicity halls to better serve Valley residents.

Although Valley cityhood doesn't translate to a separate Valley school district, Wilson said pushing for a breakup of the Los Angeles Unified School District would be a top priority of his administration. He said he supports three separate school districts in the Valley to foster accountability and local control.

Wilson said his service on civic committees, trade groups and in business gives him the range of experience needed for the mayor's job.

``When I was appointed to the MTA board, we oversaw a $3.2 billion annual budget,'' he said. ``That gives me the experience to deal with a $1.1 billion (city of San Fernando Valley) budget.''

Richman can claim one thing no other mayoral candidate can: experience as an elected official. He points to his experience as a first-term assemblyman and in his private medical practice.

A Richman administration would demand accountability from all layers of city government and would always be available to residents, Richman said. He said he would create seven borough commissions to allow communities in the Valley to govern themselves, while leaving police and fire protection a citywide responsibility.

Richman said he would demand the same accountability of the LAUSD, or else lead an effort to break the Valley off from the district.

``Los Angeles City Hall has done practically nothing to engage in the improvement of the schools,'' Richman said.

Richman, a Republican, is also on the November ballot for his second term in the Assembly. He said if voters approve secession and he is elected Valley mayor, he will resign from the Assembly.

Active ambitions

Benny Bernal is a union organizer who ministers to youths and counsels them to stay clear of gangs and crime. As mayor, he said, he would bring a similar activist approach to governing the Valley city.

Bernal said he would lead the charge for universal health care for children under 12, as well as preschool for all 4-year-olds. Government needs to take a role in preventing problems rather than simply responding to them, Bernal said.

``It's obvious that we need more police officers,'' Bernal said. ``It's obvious that we need more lighting in certain areas. But it's also obvious that we have to go to the root of the problem.''

Bernal also proposes tax incentives for businesses to give workers days off to be with their children, as well as increased lighting at city parks so that families can participate in sports after dark.

Bernal said many of his goals could be accomplished with federal grant money earmarked for child development in health for which Los Angeles currently is shortchanged. As a union leader, however, Bernal said he would not cut expenses by reducing pay and benefits to blue-collar workers.

Jim Summers is taking his quest for local control to his campaign for mayor. The president and co-founder of the Old Granada Hills Residents' Group, Summers said he fought against overdevelopment in Granada Hills and would apply the philosophy of controlled growth and local control to the entire Valley.

Los Angeles City Council members depend too much on political contributions from developers who are trying to win approval for their projects, Summers said. Summers said he is funding his campaign for Valley mayor to avoid outside influences.

``I have no favors - I don't owe anybody,'' he said.

Summers said he would work to bring government closer to the people by establishing boroughs and a system of neighborhood councils to serve as liaisons between communities and elected officials. He said he would require city managers and department heads to spend 10 hours to 20 hours a month with the public to keep the government accessible.

In addition, the new city should make it easier for citizens to recall elected officials from office, he said.

Henry Divina says his multiethnic background - he is of Filipino, Spanish and Chinese descent - mirrors that of the Valley. A certified public accountant and retired U.S. Department of Defense auditor, Divina said he would bring a mathematical rigor to the job of mayor.

``People have to be knowledgeable and apply their skills (toward government),'' Divina said. ``I have a very good background with the Department of Defense.''

Although the city would employ its own accountants and auditors, Divina said he would set the tone of an efficient, financially conservative city hall that is free of politics. The current Los Angeles city leadership is too political and doesn't always spend money wisely, Divina said.

Divina said that under his leadership, a new Valley city would work closely with private businesses to reduce unemployment. A lower unemployment rate would mean less crime and a better quality of life, he said.

Bruce Boyer is the only candidate who has announced that he rejects the terms of Valley cityhood. Boyer says the Local Agency Formation Commission's terms - which include an estimated $1.2 billion in payments from the Valley to the remainder of Los Angeles over a 20-year period after secession - are invalid because LAFCO itself is not an elected body.

Boyer labels the payments ``extortion'' and said he's the only candidate with the backbone to lead the Valley through its struggle to break away from Los Angeles.

``It's gonna be a war,'' Boyer said. ``The only thing you can do in a war, if you can't avoid it, is to win it.''

Boyer, a Libertarian, also breaks from the other candidates in opposing rent control, which he said leads to slums and vast disparities among renters. Boyer said he would push to drastically reduce the size and scope of city government, which he said would lower taxes and stimulate business.

Boyer said he is qualified by his experience, having started a security and alarm business 12 years ago and presided over its growth.

Looking back, forward

David Hernandez remembers a time when the Valley fairly brimmed with prosperity and possibilities for its residents. A Valley resident since 1955, Hernandez said he's running for mayor to help recapture the sense of unity and economic opportunity.

Hernandez also is on the Nov. 5 ballot as the Republican candidate for U.S. Congress in the 28th District, where Democrat Howard Berman has served for nearly 20 years. Hernandez said if he is elected to both offices ``I'd go buy a lotto ticket,'' because of the unlikelihood of the scenario.

Hernandez said his time on the campaign trail for Congress has put him in touch with the concerns of Valley residents. In his mayoral bid, Hernandez is emphasizing basic services such as health care - he opposes closing county-run clinics - and transportation - he says he would advocate new light-rail lines.

``I've been listening to people in communities for 11 months,'' Hernandez said. ``I've heard a lot of problems and talked to a lot of people.''

Hernandez said he would hold monthly town-hall meetings as mayor to gather input from residents about how to make the Valley a better place to live.

Marc Strassman envisions a Valley where every household has at least one computer and Internet access, where the computers are an integral tool of democracy and where solar energy provides electricity to thousands. Strassman mentions computers and the Internet as a solution to many of the Valley's woes, from crime to economic stagnation. Other candidates have a less-radical vision, one that will result in the Valley simply becoming a smaller version of Los Angeles, Strassman said.

``They're talking about shuffling resources around,'' he said. ``We're talking about creating new resources and truly empowering people through e-government. If we're going through all this trouble for secession, we might as well create something new and different and interesting.''

Providing for poor

Strassman said he would set to work immediately on providing computers and Internet access for poor people, the lack of which has prevented them from participating fully in the economic, social, political and cultural life of America, he said.

Computer networks would allow people to weigh in on local issues online, as well as see what their government is doing, Strassman said.

Leonard Shapiro's license plate sums up his political identity: GADFLYY. He said he has attended Los Angeles City Council meetings for the past 22 years and knows firsthand the dismissive, often indifferent, attitude of city leaders toward their constituents.

More importantly, Shapiro said, he knows the recent history of Los Angeles well enough not to repeat the mistakes of city leaders.

``I know where all the bodies are buried,'' Shapiro said. ``I know all the stuff that goes on and how to make it not continue in the Valley.''

Shapiro said his top priorities would be to make city government more responsive to residents and to clean up waste and corruption. He would accomplish the latter goal by establishing one commission to ensure that city officials implement the recommendations of audits and another to investigate all city departments to work toward a more efficient and effective government.

Shapiro said he served on local government panels in New York and Florida and ran a distribution business in Los Angeles, which combined with his knowledge of Los Angeles city government qualifies him for the position.

Gregory Roberts says evidence of the Los Angeles city government's inefficiency is all around him. At the corner of Vineland Street and Magnolia Avenue, for instance, is a collection of trees and flowers where a bus shelter and sidewalks should be, he said.

Roberts calls himself a ``public corruption fighter,'' although he said his attempts to bring corruption to light have been hindered by his battle with epilepsy and by security guards' attempts to keep him out of public meetings.

He said he has personally been the victim of a city government that ranges from indifferent to hostile. Roberts said he is part of a new breed of Valley politicians who spurn donations and don't view the mayoral position as a steppingstone to higher office.

``If you want something done, you're supposed to write letters to city leaders,'' Roberts said. ``Most of the letters to City Hall just dead-end with the receptionist writing messages.''

Roberts accused city leaders of squandering public money on corrupt projects - which he did not specify - and said he would redirect the money into basic social services.

``Every day in the newspaper there's something that involves public corruption,'' he said.

Race for mayor

BENITO ``BENNY'' BERNAL

Age: 38

Occupation: Educator and union organizer

Residence: Mission Hills

Web site: none

HENRY DUKE DIVINA

Age: 62

Occupation: Retired accountant

Residence: Chatsworth

Web site: none

KEITH S. RICHMAN

Age: 48

Occupation: State Assemblyman, physician

Residence: Northridge

Web site: keithrichman.org

BRUCE J. BOYER

Age: 41

Occupation: Alarm company manager

Residence: Reseda

Web site: www.bruceformayor.com

DAVID R. HERNANDEZ JR.

Age: 54

Occupation: Insurance adjuster

Residence: Valley Village

Web site: www.davidrhernandez.com

GREGORY EAGLE ROBERTS

Age: 52

Occupation: Unemployed

Residence: North Hollywood

Web site: none

LEONARD SHAPIRO

Age: 82

Occupation: Retired businessman, newspaper columnist

Residence: Reseda

Web site: none

JIM SUMMERS

Age: 45

Occupation: Realtor associate

Residence: Granada Hills

Web site: ourvalley.org

MARC STRASSMAN

Age: 54

Occupation: Internet consultant

Residence: Valley Village

Web site: sfm.lpbn.org

MEL WILSON

Age: 49

Occupation: General manager of real-estate firm

Residence: Northridge

Web site: www.melwilsonformayor.com

CAPTION(S):

20 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Benito ``Benny'' Bernal

(2 -- color) Bruce J. Boyer

(3 -- color) Henry Duke Divina

(4 -- color) David R. Hernandez Jr.

(5 -- color) Keith S. Richman

(6 -- color) Gregory Eagle Roberts

(7 -- color) Leonard Shapiro

(8 -- color) Marc Strassman

(9 -- color) Jim Summers

(10 -- color) Mel Wilson

(11) Benito ``Benny'' Bernal

(12) Bruce J. Boyer

(13) Henry Duke Divina

(14) David R. Hernandez Jr.

(15) Keith S. Richman

(16) Gregory Eagle Roberts

(17) Leonard Shapiro

(18) Marc Strassman

(19) Jim Summers

(20) Mel Wilson

Box:

Race for mayor (see text)