New Role for Watchdog : Persistent Critic of Hermosa Beach Officials Prepares to Take Post on Council

Longtime government watchdog Roger Creighton will soon have a job he said he would never want--Hermosa Beach councilman.

For years he growled at city officials about what they were doing, and filed several lawsuits to force changes in city policy. Many City Hall and political insiders view him as Hermosa Beach’s bad dog--attacking at every opportunity and doing more harm than good.

But residents apparently see Creighton more as an effective guard dog--watchful, protective and attacking only when warranted. The 49-year-old, lifelong resident grabbed the most votes of the four candidates in last week’s council race, ousting incumbent Tony DeBellis.

“I don’t think that a person can really put into words the warm feeling that one gets when fellow citizens elect him into office,” Creighton said the morning after the election.

‘Wring Your Neck’

“The only thing that you can do is maintain the strength of your convictions and continue fighting for what you think got you there. And if people like it, they’ll continue supporting you. And if not, they’ll come down and wring your neck.”

Creighton is physically imposing--6-foot-4, 242 pounds--and has a personality to match. His comments are often blunt and forceful, and some people wonder how he will get along with other council members and city officials.

“I’ll probably refrain from harsh language,” he said, “but I’ll continue to be straightforward and if I don’t continue to be straightforward, I hope somebody gets a baseball bat and gets my attention and explains what I’m doing wrong.”

Councilwoman June Williams, who supported Creighton’s candidacy and said she agrees with him on most issues, has concerns about Creighton’s ability to be politic. “We’re all just waiting to see if he’s going to be able to compromise or what his attitude will be if it’s a 4-to-1 vote against him. . . .

“He’s very open; he’s very honest; he’s very frank. He says what he means. He’s very emotional. I think he does it sometimes to make an impression, which he does.”

Control Emotions

But, she added, she believes Creighton will be able to control his emotions during council meetings.

“Roger’s not in this to make new friends,” said City Clerk Kathleen Midstokke, who rents a house from Creighton. “He’s not going to join the coffee club. He’s not in it for the social aspects of (being a) councilman. He just called this morning to say that he doesn’t want any business cards with his name on them as councilman.”

She said his good sense of humor may help ease tensions at council meetings because “sometimes council members take themselves far too seriously.”

The first test of Creighton’s ability to get along will be when the new council meets for the first time Nov. 24. Facing each other in the end seats of the semicircular dais will be the two new councilmen--Creighton and Chuck Sheldon.

The two spent much of the campaign criticizing one another. Creighton finished with 1,675 votes, Sheldon with 1,556, while DeBellis had 1,474 and Michael Neiman 1,132.

Unhappy With Results

After the election, Sheldon declared himself unhappy with the results. “I’m amazed, absolutely flabbergasted, that Roger was successful and Tony (DeBellis) was not.”

Sheldon said he is unsure whether he will be able to get along with Creighton. He implied that Creighton could not work well with other people, saying he had never seen him work in a group.

Creighton was more optimistic. “I don’t have any problems getting along with anybody. . . . It would be impossible not to get along with Chuck when you consider we were voted in for the same reasons--low density and open space,” Creighton said with a wink. During the campaign he criticized Sheldon’s record as a planning commissioner.

A defeated DeBellis said the morning after the election that Sheldon--whom the incumbent actively supported--and Creighton are the “type of individuals that raise your emotional level to a fervent pitch. . . . The electorate chose the firebrands, so we’ll see how the council will be able to coalesce, if at all.”

Creighton said before the election that if he could not get support on the council for issues he feels strongly about, he would circulate petitions to place initiatives on the ballot.

‘Win Some, Lose Some’

“If he firmly believes that,” said Mayor Pro Tem Jim Rosenberger, “he can find himself outside Vons and Alpha Beta potentially quite often. . . . Part of the give and take of council is that you win some, you lose some and you compromise on some.”

But Creighton said he believes that residents should vote on basic zoning laws--such as the number of housing units per acre and the uses permitted in the zones--to control density and the character of neighborhoods. “These basics need to be protected by the vote of the people--I think that is the difference between me and most bureaucrats,” he said.

Creighton, a heavy equipment operator at a wine warehouse, does not just talk about lowering density and maintaining open space, he practices it. He and his sister own six adjacent lots in the city, but have only three houses and a garden on the properties.

“I could build houses in there, but I don’t want to. I enjoy living in a park,” he said.

He lives in one of the houses, his sister lives in another and they rent the third. One of his hobbies is gardening and between the houses lush gardens thrive among tiny ponds. He and his sister also own hundreds of acres of forests, farmland and vineyards in other areas of California, he said.

His other hobbies are stamp collecting and sleeping in the sun. “I understand why snakes do it,” he said of the latter. “It’s very, very relaxing.”

Defending Lawsuits

During the past several years, the city spent about $60,000 defending lawsuits filed against Hermosa Beach by Creighton. In several of the lawsuits, he sought the release of public records and an end to what he saw as the improper spending of city money on gifts for outgoing officials.

He was sometimes criticized for forcing the city to spend more money defending the suits than city spent on the gifts.

But Creighton called that rationale “a joke.”

He justified the lawsuits by saying: “A petty thief will steal quantities that he feels are too insignificant to be sued for. . . . Maybe they feel that I should wait until the cost of the gift equals the cost to defend the suit.”

Though Creighton did not win every suit, the city has changed some policies as a result.

Creighton, whose formal education ended with his high school graduation, did much of his own legal research on the lawsuits and often cites California case law.

He spent about $25,000 on his suits against the city, he said, explaining it was “not any great act of generosity” but rather done “out of selfishness to preserve a society where the government may not expend funds for uses not authorized by law.”

He attributes his recent desire to become a councilman to selfish motives: “I am attempting to preserve a community I would want to live in.”

Creighton, who usually goes barefoot and wears very casual clothes, said he respects the office of city councilman and will don a suit and tie for at least half the council meetings.

The rest of the time, he joked that he will “wear leotards and sequins.”

But, he said, “when not sitting in that (council) chair, it’s strictly sand-between-the-toes, kid, like I am.”