District 4’s Veteran Councilman Seen as Vulnerable : 5 Challengers Stalk Clark in Long Beach

Perhaps it’s because he has won his last two races by relatively narrow margins.

Perhaps it’s because his district underwent the most radical changes in reapportionment last year.

For whatever reason, Councilman Thomas J. Clark has attracted five challengers who are gunning for the 4th District seat in the April 12 primary.

An incumbent like Clark would normally be considered an institution. After all, the 61-year-old optometrist has represented the district since 1966, including a stint as mayor. He believes his term is the second longest in city history.

Seen as Vulnerable

Challengers, however, say his political longevity makes him vulnerable. “He’s probably alienated a lot of people out there,” retired Police Lt. Jack Bowen said.

In 1980 and 1984, Clark fought off the same determined opponent, Phillip B. Greer. Only 60 votes out of 8,320 separated the two candidates eight years ago; Clark received 51.2% to Greer’s 47.1% four years ago.

Greer, an attorney, has since moved to Irvine. But now his father, accountant Stanley Greer, has filed against Clark. So has computer consultant Cliff Armstrong, retired jack-of-all-trades Joseph H. Farrell, aerospace worker Charles Vestal and Bowen.

In the battle of endorsements, Clark has the backing of the city’s firefighters and lifeguards, as well as the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents city bus drivers. But Bowen lays claim to his old buddies in the Long Beach Police Officers Assn. Vestal has the support of the activist Long Beach Area Citizens Involved and the Long Beach City Employees Assn., a group he headed as president when he was a city librarian.

Clark portrays himself as a stable force amid the manicured lawns and well-maintained stucco tract homes of the Eastside, where the peace is broken only by the occasional engine whine of descending jetliners.

Describes Interests

He said he has played a leadership role in trying to hold down expansion of commercial flights at Long Beach Municipal Airport. He said he wants to protect the nature study area of El Dorado Park by putting a new sports complex elsewhere.

Clark attributed his last two narrow races to backlash over a city law that put restrictions on the storage of recreational vehicles in neighborhoods. Since that issue has faded, Clark predicted he will have an easier ride this time for another four-year term.

The incumbent is expected to raise and spend far more than any of his opponents. He reported last week that he raised $59,208 during the first three months of the year and had $44,515 on hand.

He considered running in the first citywide election for mayor, but bowed out in favor of Councilwoman Jan Hall, a fellow Republican and political ally.

Reapportionment changes last year changed the district somewhat from the predominately white, stable, middle-class neighborhoods that have so long provided Clark’s base of support.

Clark said he is walking the new parts of his district, pushed west to Walnut Avenue from the old boundary of Junipero Avenue. Openly unhappy when redistricting occurred last May, he now emphasizes issues that may play well in the new, apartment-heavy west end of his district. He talks about his record of trying to involve minorities in city government and in controlling development.

Opponents, however, say that Clark’s 22-year reign is long enough. “He’s been in office too long and he has become very complacent in the issues concerning the 4th District,” Armstrong said.

Active in Democratic politics and an activist in a group against airport noise, Armstrong, 54, has adopted the folksy slogan, “The spark’s gone out of Clark and you can’t go wrong with Armstrong.”

Clark has not done enough to try to stop airport expansion, Armstrong charged. Armstrong said he is active in Long Beach Houses Under Stress and Hazard, better known as HUSH. He said the city should explore building an offshore airport that would protect residents from noise and the possibility of an aircraft crash disaster.

Lid on Crime

The field representative for Rockwell International said the city needs more youth activities and must keep the lid on crime.

“Crime is not a serious thing in this 4th District,” he said. “But as far as the city as a whole is concerned, where it affects one district, it can run off into another.”

Bowen, a 24-year veteran with the Long Beach Police Department, said that crime-related issues play a large role in his campaign because people ask him about them when they hear of his background.

He said he favors a police commission as an advisory body, but not as a review board that would have direct authority over the police department.

Like Armstrong, Bowen said he wants an offshore airport. “It’s not a safe situation having an airport surrounded by residents,” he said.

Bowen, 58, said he has voted for Clark four times, but that the time has come for the council’s dean to step aside.

“He should let some new voices come into the city,” said Bowen, who now works as a security consultant.

Greer, 63, said he is following in his son’s political footsteps because “the quality of life in the 4th District has deteriorated.”

Streets need repair, trees need trimming and street lighting is “atrocious” in some areas, Greer said.

Says Police Needed

He said El Dorado Park is infested with drug dealers and that more police are needed in the district to protect residents from burglars. “I’ve been robbed twice. My neighbor down the street has been robbed three times,” he said.

Greer said he hopes to capitalize on the name identification from his son’s two runs against Clark. He is also campaigning door-to-door and speaking to groups.

Farrell, 62, comes to the race as probably the most eclectic of the candidates. He has owned a cocktail lounge in Lynwood, worked as a communications director for an international beauty pageant and was a mortuary director and insurance executive. He explains: “When you’re raising eight kids, you do a lot of things.”

Farrell said the city needs more senior citizen housing and more parks. The city also has to lower the crime rate.

But he does not favor limiting flights at the airport as long as airlines use low-noise aircraft. With many new hotels, Farrell said the city needs a viable airport to make the most of room taxes.

Volunteer Organization

Vestal, 43, said he has the strongest volunteer organization and most serious campaign of any candidate in the race. He said he plans to raise about $20,000 for the race but in last week’s financial report he said he had raised only $1,420.

A city librarian for 16 years, he said he quit to start his own computer firm. He is also former president of the city employees association that endorsed him.

“The citizens deserve decent services,” Vestal said. “They seem to be unhappy with the way Long Beach (city government) has mishandled resources and come through with utility taxes . . . a way of making up for revenue they should have had through better handling of resources.”

He cited cost overruns on the Queen Mary nearly two decades ago as a prime example of city mismanagement.

The city has allowed overdevelopment by approving “an explosion of apartment buildings that don’t fit the neighborhoods,” Vestal charged. The city has not put adequate restrictions on flights around the airport “and it is not as safe as it should be.”

As of July 1, when the new council and the city’s first full-time mayor will be sworn in, council members will receive $16,875 annually.

CANDIDATES IN LONG BEACH 4TH DISTRICT RACE CLIFF ARMSTRONG Age: 54 Occupation: Field representative in the engineering and planning Dept. of Rockwell International Corp. Political and civic background: Active in Neighborhood Watch program, group fighting expansion of the Long Beach airport and member of the Democratic National Committee and state and local Democratic party groups. JACK W. BOWEN Age: 58 Occupation: Retired as a lieutenant from the Long Beach Police Department after 24 years. Political and civic background: Helped plan security for the 1984 Olympic Games; advises on security matters at Long Beach Community Hospital. THOMAS J. CLARK Age: 61 Occupation: Optometrist. Political and civic background: City councilman since 1966; three-time mayor; member or head of a lengthy list of local, regional, state and national organizations. JOSEPH H. FARRELL Age: 62 Occupation: Retired businessman from jobs that ranged from director of a mortuary to owner of a cocktail lounge. Political and civic background: Active in church activities; ran unsuccessfully for council in 1978. STANLEY GREER Age: 63 Occupation: Public accountant. Political and civic background: Involved in youth sports, parent-teacher associations, Neighborhood Watch and service organizations. CHARLES VESTAL Age: 43 Occupation: Computer consultant. Political and civic background: Active in church, school and folk-dance groups.