Hawthorne Voters Choose Continuity--and a Woman Mayor

A part-time tax consultant will become the first woman mayor of Hawthorne, following municipal elections this week in which residents appeared to vote for continuity in city government after a hard-fought campaign that attracted few voters.

In the mayoral race, Betty J. Ainsworth, 59, a seven-year veteran of the City Council, easily defeated John B. Bernadou, who ran a token campaign. The vote was 2,795 to 787 with only 16% of those registered voting.

“It means a continuing-on of current programs,” said Ainsworth, who will serve a two-year term.

City Council incumbents David York, 48, operations manager of Centre Properties Ltd., which manages commercial and industrial properties, and Charles Bookhammer, 37, owner of an insurance agency, were reelected and will serve four-year terms. They both stressed their roles in adding “harmony” and “stability” to city government during their campaigns.

Nearest Challenger

York pulled in 1,631 votes. Bookhammer got 1,630, defeating Ginny McGinnis Lambert, the nearest challenger, by 412 votes.

With the count still incomplete on election night, attention had already turned to the unanswered question of determining a replacement for Ainsworth when she vacates her council seat to become mayor on Nov. 25.

The council has 30 days from the election to appoint a successor or call for a special election to be held within 90 days. If the council takes no action, state law requires that a special election be held within 90 days.

The last time a similar situation occurred was in 1983 when council member Guy Hocker became the city’s first elected mayor. The council appointed Bookhammer, then the third-highest voter-getter in separate council elections, to fill Hocker’s vacated seat. Hocker decided not to run for reelection this year.

Variety of Charges

In the City Council race, challengers made a variety of charges against the incumbents in the final days of the campaign.

The last-minute barrage, criticized as unfair by York and Bookhammer, may prejudice the chances of challengers hoping for an appointment to the council, the two incumbents said.

However, Ainsworth said on election night that she would follow her announced plan of supporting the candidate who ran third, in this case Lambert.

Lambert, 53, an executive assistant at Northrop Corp., said she expected the council to honor the precedent established by the 1983 Bookhammer appointment. “I would expect that they would appoint me also,” she said.

May Affect Choice

But Bookhammer and York said they had not made up their minds and that the conduct during the campaign may affect their decisions. They singled out for criticism mailers sent out by Lambert, Ray Pearcy and Richard Mansfield in the last week of the campaign.

“Mansfield put out one that is misleading,” Bookhammer said. “Pearcy put out one that was an out-and-out lie. Lambert put out one that misquoted.” All three candidates denied any wrongdoing.

At his victory party, York said, “There have been some people around here, who said, ‘If candidates lie, misquote, misrepresent, are deceitful enough through the campaign process, what are they going to be like if you put them in office?’ I hadn’t really thought about that until it was brought up to me. We have a good community. They deserve having people open and honest with them.”

Lambert, who received 1,218 votes, attacked York in a brochure.

“Ooops! What Councilman David York forgot to tell you . . . “ it said on the front. On the back of the brochure, Lambert attacked a statement by York that crime was declining, citing categories of crime showing an increase. She said he neglected the dangers of overdevelopment. She said a 3.5% utility tax that York voted for was unnecessary.

Backlash Helped

York said a backlash against the Lambert attack had helped him. “I feel that the city is sick and tired of smear tactics in politics,” he said.

Lambert defended her brochure. “That was his voting record,” she said on election night, adding, “I hope to be able to work with anyone who is on the council.”

Pearcy, who came in fifth with 980 votes, sent out a mailer that said on the front: “Are elected officials above the law?” On the back, it said that Proposition 13 required city referendums on tax increases and continued, “Councilmen York and Bookhammer both ignored the law and raised your taxes without allowing you to vote on them.”

At the time the utility tax was imposed by a unanimous council vote, the city was facing a $1.7-million shortfall resulting from a personnel increase in the Police Department. Proposition 13, which requires ballot approval for property tax increases, does not restrict the imposition of utility taxes.

Recommended Tax

Bookhammer responded: “Ray Pearcy was the president of the Chamber of Commerce and chaired the committee that recommended to the council a 3.5% tax.

“This hit the mail last Friday. He had numerous forums and newspaper interviews in which to raise this issue in time so we could answer this smear.”

Pearcy, co-owner of Century 21-Hawthorne Realty Inc. and past president of the Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce, is considering another try if a special election is held.

He initially said he did not want to talk about his mailer, but when pressed, he conceded that he had been a member of the Chamber committee that recommended a 3.5% tax on utilities. He acknowledged that the committee recommendation said nothing about making the utility tax a ballot measure.

“What can I say?” he said. “My article stated the facts and that was all it did.”

Surprised at Poor Showing

Ainsworth said she was surprised at how poorly Pearcy, long a major figure in Hawthorne business and civic circles, fared at the polls. She said she thought his brochure had hurt him.

“I don’t think that people vote for negative things,” she said. “As long as I have been in the city, I have never seen a negative person elected.”

Ainsworth herself was the subject of a ploy by Mansfield, that he said was known among campaign consultants as the “non-endorsement endorsement.” Mansfield came in fourth with 1,180 votes.

“Mansfield announces Ainsworth endorsement,” a Mansfield brochure trumpeted in headline letters. In the small print, Mansfield explained that he was endorsing Ainsworth--not the other way round.

“That was a deception, you know,” said York.

No Endorsement

Ainsworth said she was “a little bit surprised” when she first learned of the Mansfield brochure because she had not endorsed Mansfield and the brochure made it look like she had.

“These things happen,” she said.

Mansfield said he distributed the Ainsworth “endorsement” because he was “trying to win an election. I wanted the benefit from Betty’s popularity.”

Mansfield worked hard, spending weeks walking the city to meet with “high propensity” voters--people who had voted in previous municipal elections. He sent follow-up letters designed to appear hand written and carefully targeted endorsement letters from different politicians to specific constituencies, sending all Republicans one letter, all Democrats another and a third to the heavily black neighborhood of Holly Park.

In one letter, Mansfield said he recycled quotes from a letter written on his behalf by Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn when Mansfield ran for the Hawthorne City Council two years ago. Mansfield said he had not checked with Hahn before using the letter again but had not heard any complaints from the supervisor.

After election results became known, Mansfield said, “I’m not too happy right now,” adding that he did not think the mailer had backfired with voters. “Who can look in the minds of the voters?” he said.

Homemaker Last

Homemaker Kathy Corsiglia, who collected no campaign contributions, received 331 votes, coming in last in the council race.

In a post-election interview, Ainsworth said she would continue to work for redevelopment of commercial areas, resolution of route planning problems associated with light rail proposals and solutions for traffic congestion.

She said she supported the establishment of a joint truancy program in Hawthorne, Lawndale and Lennox to reduce crime and a cooperative effort by city officials, residents and builders to ease problems associated with intense development of apartment housing in less densely settled areas.

The mayor-elect said that the election was marred by incidents at polling places that made voting difficult. At one polling place, people in an aerobics class held in an adjacent room refused to turn down loud rock music until police showed up, police said.

Ainsworth, who will become the first woman mayor since Hawthorne was incorporated in 1922, was the first and only woman to be elected to the City Council.

Becoming Commonplace

She said women mayors are becoming commonplace in the area.

“Torrance is about to have their first woman mayor. Lawndale has had their first woman mayor. Redondo Beach is having their first woman mayor and Pat Russell is the president of the Los Angeles City Council,” she said.

“We are seeing it more all the time. I don’t think sex has anything to do with it. A woman has to do the job the same as a man.”

York said, “When (Mayor) Guy (Hocker) left, she was the oldest person on the council and it was only right that she run for mayor. She deserves it. She has worked hard.”

Voter Denise Gold, who came to the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall eight minutes before the polls closed, said she knew Ainsworth’s record and thought she was well qualified to be the first woman mayor.

“It is time,” Gold said.

In the race for city clerk, incumbent Patrick E. Keller, 38, handily bested Ann M. Werhan, 49. The vote was 2,232 for Keller, and 1,329 for Werhan.

City Treasurer Howard Wohlner was unopposed for reelection.