Runner-Up in ’87 Seeks Funds for Korenstein Grudge Match

Former Los Angeles school board candidate Barbara Romey, who lost a bitter 1987 race to board member Julie Korenstein, has sent out a mailer asking for donations to finance a second campaign.

The response to Romey’s fund-raising letter, sent last week to contributors to her 1987 campaign, will help determine whether she will seek a 4-year term as the board’s 4th District representative in the April 12 election, Romey said Friday. The 4th District covers the San Fernando Valley west of the San Diego Freeway.

“If the support is there, I’m going for it,” said Romey, 41, an accountant. “A lot of people have been calling me and asking me to run.”

Romey and Korenstein, who shared similar positions on education issues, exchanged bitter personal attacks in the June 2, 1987, runoff, which Korenstein won with 58% of the vote.

In mailers during that campaign, Romey labeled Korenstein an “ultra-liberal” controlled by United Teachers-Los Angeles, the union representing most teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Korenstein responded with a mailer that called Romey a liar and charged that Romey “will say anything to get elected.”

Both candidates supported the reopening of area schools closed because of low enrollment and opposed year-round schools.

In her current fund-raising letter, Romey said that Korenstein has been a “disaster” during her 15 months in office. Among several charges in the letter, Romey said Korenstein has failed to discipline teachers who don’t do their jobs.

Korenstein denied the accusations. “She did the same thing the last time, and the charges were proven erroneous,” Korenstein said.

Romey said she will need to raise between $120,000 and $150,000 to run a successful campaign against Korenstein. Board members are paid $24,000 a year.

Korenstein and Romey were the top two finishers among seven candidates who ran in the April, 1987, primary to fill the 2 years remaining in former board member David Armor’s term. Armor had resigned to take a job with the Department of Defense in Washington.

Romey, an outspoken conservative, was supported by former anti-busing leaders such as school board President Roberta Weintraub, former U.S. Rep. Bobbi Fiedler and state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys). Korenstein, 44, received more than $30,000 in contributions from the UTLA and was supported by elected officials such as U.S. Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City) and state Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda).

In September, Korenstein was served with a notice of recall by parents angry about the transfer of a Granada Hills junior high school principal. The effort was dropped a month later because organizers said a recall election would be too close to the scheduled April election.

A recall spokeswoman said Thursday that the parents will soon form a steering committee to support an as-yet unnamed candidate to run against Korenstein in the spring.