17 City Council Races Draw 106 Candidates

Forty-four city council seats will be contested in 17 Southeast Los Angeles County communities in the April 8 elections.

In all, 106 candidates, including 40 incumbents, are running for those council positions. Four council incumbents--two in Bell and one each in Santa Fe Springs and Paramount--have decided not to seek new terms of office.

Maywood was to hold an election, but nobody challenged the two incumbent council members, the clerk or the treasurer. The City Council will meet Feb. 15 to cancel the election and appoint the current office holders, said City Clerk Leonard R. Locher.

In addition to council races, Signal Hill will also elect a city clerk and city treasurer, while the Paramount Unified School District will replace a Board of Education member who died last year.

Downey will also hold city elections this spring but will consolidate them with the June 3 state primary elections. The filing period will open Feb. 10 and close March 7.

The following is a look at the council races and the candidates:

ARTESIA--Two seats, three candidates, including incumbents Dennis R. Fellows, an accountant seeking a fourth term, and James Van Horne, a consultant also seeking a fourth term. The lone challenger is Marcy H. Delgado, personnel director for Bellflower Unified School District and former Artesia assistant city manager.

BELL--Three seats, seven candidates, including incumbent Jay Price, who has served on the council since 1958. The challengers are George Bass, fire chief of Vernon; Rolf Janssen, a teacher at Gage Junior High School in Huntington Park; George Mirabal, owner/director of Mirabal-Sampson Mortuary in Bell; Michael McCabe, quality control supervisor; James J. Jordan, official with United Steelworkers, and Donna L. Caddy, former councilwoman was not reelected in 1984. Councilmen George Simmons and Clarence Knechtel are not running for reelection. Simmons has served since 1962 and Knechtel was elected in 1970.

BELLFLOWER--Three seats, nine candidates, including incumbents James Earle Christo, a businessman; John Ansdell, a businessman, and Ray O’Neal, senior industrial engineer with Northrop Corp. The three were elected in 1982. They are challenged by Ken Cleveland, businessman and former city councilman; Jean A. Engelbach , businesswoman; Ralph Ball, a city planning commissioner; William J. Pendleton, a supervisor for Southern California Edison; Roger Kelly, real estate broker, and LaVerne Smith, a real estate counselor.

CERRITOS--In this crowded contest, there are 15 candidates seeking three seats. Incumbents include Alex Beanum, a civil engineer seeking a third term; Barry Rabbitt, a civil engineer for Caltrans, seeking a fifth term, and Diana Needham, a project manager for a planning and architectural firm, seeking her third term.

The challengers are Paul Bowlen, a Cerritos High School teacher; Ann Joynt, an administrator in the Orange County Department of Education; Ravinder Mehta, a deputy district attorney; Gordon Lewis, a real estate broker; Angel Soto, an employee representative for a machinists union; Enola Stephens, a retired teacher; Rich Taylor, a commercial artist; Alan Ulrich, a customer representative for United Parcel Service; Alfredo S. Wells, a U. S. Defense Department police officer; Charles Harner, a retired U. S. Customs employee, and Sal Malonzo, a development assistant.

COMMERCE--Two seats, five candidates, including incumbents James B. Dimas Sr., a Los Angeles County deputy sheriff, and Lawrence R. Maese, a retiree who was appointed a year ago. Challengers are Ruth R. Aldaco, former city clerk; Ruben C. Batres, former planning commissioner, and homemaker Mary R. Guerrero, a former planning commissioner.

CUDAHY--Three seats, six candidates, including incumbents Faye Dunlap, who has served two terms, Lynwood Evans and Joseph Graffio, who have both served two terms. They are challenged by Valerie Hansen, the city Planning Commission chairwoman; Tom Thurman, a teacher, and Bill Colon, a political consultant.

HAWAIIAN GARDENS--Two seats, four candidates, including incumbents Lupe Cabrera and Jack Myers. Challengers are Donald Schultze, former city councilman defeated in 1984, and Kathy Navejas, a community activist.

HUNTINGTON PARK--Three seats, six candidates, including incumbents William Cunningham, council member since 1978; Jim Roberts, council member since 1970, and Herbert Hennes, who has also been on the council since 1970. All of the challengers have run for council seats in the past. They are Don B. Porter, an engineer who ran in 1984; Raul R. Perez, a loan officer who ran in 1978, 1980 and 1984; Alan Kartsman, president of Kartsman Realty who ran for the council in 1982; and Louie Aragon, vice president of Kartsman Realty.

LAKEWOOD--Two seats, four candidates, including incumbents Larry Van Nostran and Jackie Rynerson. Challengers are Roy E. Pepper, corporate financial executive, and Jack Adkins, accountant and investment counselor.

LA MIRADA--Three seats, five candidates, including incumbents Lou Piltz, equipment manager for a supermarket chain, seeking a third term; Ken Jones, a businessman, seeking a second term, and Wayne Rew, a dean at Cerritos College, seeking a third term. Challengers are Art Leslie, a businessman, and Mark Oertel, a lawyer.

NORWALK--Three seats, nine candidates, including incumbents Marcial Rodriguez and Louis Banas Jr., both council members since 1982, and Cecil N. Green, a councilman since 1974. Challengers are former city administrator William H. Kraus, who resigned in 1983; Grace Musquiz Napolitano, claims manager for Ford Motor Co. in Compton; Robert A. Espinosa, a lawyer who lost as a candidate in 1984; Louis Krebs, a mechanic; William Brady, self-employed salesman, and Guy W. Churchouse, a lawyer.

PARAMOUNT--Three seats, seven candidates, including incumbents Charles Weldon, a lawyer, and John Mies, a funeral director. The challengers are Ted Mosier, a businessman who served on the council for 16 years before losing in 1984; Mike Delivuck, an accountant; Richard DeBie, businessman and former councilman who last served in 1976; Manuel E. Guillen, water department supervisor, and Henry (Hank) Harkema, water commissioner. Councilman Case Boogaard is not seeking reelection after eight years.

PARAMOUNT SPECIAL SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION--One seat, four candidates. Candidates to replace Sandra Paisley, who died in September, are her widower, James Paisley, a building engineering inspector; Alex Rivera, an administrative intern; Ken Teeples, a computer program analyst, and Marianne Papp, a system management consultant.

PICO RIVERA--Three seats, four candidates, including incumbents John Chavez, who is seeking a third term; Gil De La Rosa, who is seeking a second term, and Al Natividad seeking a second term. The lone challenger is Richard Marcardo Sr., a building inspector running for the council for the third time.

SANTA FE SPRINGS--Two seats, seven candidates, including incumbent Ronald Kernes, a councilman since 1978. Challengers are Ruben Elizalde, a teacher at Pioneer High School who ran for the council in 1982 and 1984; Al Fuentes, city planning commissioner; George Minnehan, truck driver; Edward Perez, consultant engineer; Susan Perez, a businesswoman who is also Edward Perez’s wife; and Gerald (Dean) Dirksen, a city planning commissioner. Councilman Luis Escontrias is not seeking reelection, saying that “two terms is sufficient for anyone.”

SIGNAL HILL--Two seats, six candidates, including incumbents Louis Dare, a councilman for four years, and Gerard Goedhart, a director of administrative services for Los Alamitos, who is seeking a second term. The challengers are Sara Dodds, a design consultant; Richard (Dick) Love, housing consultant; Frank McCoy, retired city police sergeant, and Clyde Key, contractor.

Signal Hill City Clerk Kris Beard will run for reelection, challenged by Valerie G. Williams, who is self-employed. City Treasurer Gayle Girard is challenged by Edward Williams, banker and former planning commissioner.

SOUTH GATE--Three seats, four candidates including incumbents William H. DeWitt, a businessman who has been on the council for six years; Odell Snavely, a businessman and a council member for seven years, and Herbert Cranton, a community relations representative for Southern California Rapid Transit District. The lone challenger is Dorothea M. Lombardo, a free-lance writer who ran for the council in 1982 and 1984.

WHITTIER--Two seats, five candidates, including incumbents Victor Lopez, who is running for his third term, and Gene Chandler, who is running for his second term. The challengers are Romana Pokorny, a Rio Hondo College student and dental assistant; Clifford W. Slater, a chauffeur, and Joseph Marsico, a community activist whose latest cause is bringing motorized buses that look like trolleys to the city.