Councilman, Mayor Remy Deposed in Burbank Vote

Burbank Mayor E. Daniel Remy and incumbent Councilman Larry Stamper were soundly defeated in bids for reelection Tuesday as the three candidates endorsed by their chief critic on the council, Mary Lou Howard, won council seats, according to unofficial election returns.

Mary E. Kelsey, Michael Hastings and Al Dossin, who were allied with Howard’s position questioning the pace of city redevelopment, won council seats.

Remy finished last and Stamper next to last in the six-candidate race. Also defeated was businessman Brian Bowman, who ran on a platform favoring redevelopment but called for modification of the city’s master plan.

The unofficial returns showed Bowman falling 102 votes behind Dossin in the race for the third council seat.

29.6% Go to Polls

Election officials said 13,370 voters went to the polls in Burbank Tuesday, 29.6% of the city’s registered voters.

“The people have spoken,” Howard said as she celebrated in the lobby of City Hall, where several hundred residents waited for the returns. “This is a mandate by the people that they want more people-oriented government instead of development-oriented government. I’m very pleased.”

Remy, who was elected mayor by other members of the five-member council, received just 29.1% of the vote. “What this says is that, if you can put together a proper smear campaign, you can win in Burbank,” he commented.

Remy said he was referring to last-minute flyers sent to residents by Howard criticizing him and his platform.

Kelsey, 68, a former chairwoman of the Burbank Planning Board, was the leading vote-getter, having been named on 62.2% of the ballots. She said she was “ecstatic” with her victory.

“This signifies that people were very unhappy with Remy and Stamper,” Kelsey said. “They didn’t get the message for four years, but we did . . . We want the people to be in charge of the government instead of a few men.”

But Bowman said the victory by the Howard-backed candidates symbolized the control that Howard and three Burbank employees’ organizations, which endorsed her slate, have over the city. “I am fearful of the concentration of power that the people have put in the hands of this faction,” he said.

Ouster of Officials Predicted

Bowman predicted that the new council would oust City Manager Andrew Lazzaretto and City Atty. William B. Rudell, opponents of Howard who had backed the incumbents.

Howard first angered Remy and Stamper when she endorsed Kelsey, Hastings and Dossin during the primary campaign. Howard said she had chosen not to endorse the incumbents because of their “arrogance and domineering attitude” toward citizens during the last four years.

Both Remy, who had served on the council for two terms, and Stamper, who has served one, had hoped to improve on their poor showing in the primary, when 18 candidates had campaigned for three of the five City Council seats. Remy placed fourth and Stamper sixth. The three Howard-endorsed candidates were the top three vote-getters.

Redevelopment in Burbank emerged as the major issue of the campaign, with incumbents defending recent growth and Howard’s camp claiming rapid redevelopment may damage quiet residential neighborhoods. But the campaign also reflected the longstanding personality conflict between the incumbents and Howard.

The split between the incumbents and Howard intensified in recent weeks as Remy and Stamper accused the Howard-backed candidates of hiding behind her image and popularity without establishing individual platforms. At the same time, Kelsey, Hastings and Dossin accused Remy of alienating residents with rude behavior during City Council meetings, suppressing information on alleged deals with developers and filing his campaign financial statement more than a week late.