La Habra Incumbents Hit on Contributions, Associations : 2 City Council Seats Contested in Tuesday Race

With three days left before Tuesday’s La Habra City Council election, two relative political newcomers are charging that the two incumbents are guilty of various conflicts of interest.

The main target of criticism is Mayor Pro Tem Kent A. Roberts, 43, a hotel owner whose family has lived in La Habra since 1923.

During and following a debate in City Hall this week, challenger Douglas Bystry, 23, questioned why Roberts failed to abstain during a handful of votes that he said could be considered a conflict of interest--including a decision on a redevelopment project that involved businessmen who are partners of Roberts in other real estate projects.

That vote, according to Bystry, involved a redevelopment project on the southwest corner of Harbor and La Habra boulevards by Veinte Associates, a 20-person partnership.

Although Roberts is not a partner in the Veinte Associates project, several of the partners are longtime associates of his. Among them, Lyle Parks Jr., Robert S. Schrimmer and Henry K. Schrimmer were partners with Roberts in two other projects (one in Brea and one in San Dimas). Parks is Roberts’ campaign finance co-director, and another Veinte partner, Harmon Jenson, is his campaign co-chairman.

Third-Generation Resident

Roberts does not deny that he knows the businessmen. As a third-generation La Habra resident and in the business of hotel development and management, it would be difficult not to have contacts within the business community, he said.

Roberts said he did not abstain during the Veinte Associates project because he was not involved with it and had nothing to gain from it--therefore, it did not pose a conflict of interest.

“I know these people. They may be my business partners in other matters. It has nothing to do with the one (issue) that is before me,” Roberts said. “Who’s involved in it, I couldn’t care less. It’s the projects, not the people.”

Bystry has filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission in Sacramento. Commission spokeswoman Lynn Montgomery said late this week that the case is being reviewed and she could not yet comment.

Candidate Steven Wilder, 27, criticized Roberts as well as incumbent William D. Mahoney, 46, the mayor, for their “many self-interests.”

The four candidates are running for two at-large seats on the council, with the top two vote-getters to be elected.

Disclosure Reports

Wilder, a financial management administrator with Rockwell International, said that campaign disclosure reports show that both incumbents received campaign contributions from various developers and business interests.

Wilder cited the city’s vote on whether to retain its liability insurance as an example of how such contributions can affect a council member’s performance. Both Roberts and Mahoney abstained from the vote involving the Schrimmer Insurance Agency because of campaign contributions.

“If I have to abstain, then I can’t represent you,” Wilder told about 75 residents attending the debate Wednesday night.

“I knew they were going to try to zing us on those,” Mahoney said, adding that campaign contributions are a necessary factor in any election. “I don’t represent a special interest group and I never have.”

As of March 22, campaign contribution reports show Roberts with the largest amount in his campaign coffers, $6,970. Mahoney reported $4,325, Bystry reported $1,075 and Wilder reported $750.

The challengers have also called attention to potholes in city streets and “for lease” signs that Wilder says show a need to attract more businesses to the city.

Time and Know-How

But the incumbents say that changes take both time and know-how, and that they have experience.

Bystry and Wilder are “high on intentions but (their) resume doesn’t show past history,” said Roberts, who likened the two challengers’ race to a new employee who wants to be president of the company within a week.

Citing his service to the community and what he called Bystry’s youth, lack of public service and residence in the community for less than a year, Roberts asked rhetorically, “Where have you people been?”

Bystry, a UCLA political science graduate and co-owner of a public relations firm, said he hasn’t lived long in La Habra but has lived in north Orange County for about 15 years.

Wilder, who plans to pursue a master’s degree in public administration at Cal State Long Beach this fall, said he has mostly been preoccupied with his education, work, wife and his infant son, who has been ill. Wilder has lived in La Habra for 6 1/2 years.

Appointed in 1981

Roberts, president of the La Habra Boys and Girls Club and member of various civic groups, was first appointed to the council in 1981. He was then elected in 1982 to a four-year term.

Mahoney, an attorney, also is running for his second term. A La Habra resident for 26 years, he is a member of the local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club and various other organizations.

Of La Habra’s population of about 48,000, 22,015 are registered to voteTuesday, City Clerk Katherine Adams said. During the 1984 election, 14.4% of voters cast ballots, with 15.5% voting in 1982 and 19.6% in 1980, she said.