Southeast Elections : South Gate Forum Yields Little but Brash Prediction

The liveliest exchange at a candidates’ forum last week actually took place after the formal debate, when Mayor Henry C. Gonzalez stood eyeball to eyeball with one of his opponent’s supporters and vowed that he would be reelected.

“I’m campaigning hard. I never take the voters for granted. I’m going to win,” Gonzalez said.

“We are going to beat you,” declared Gregory Slaughter, chairman of candidate Robert A. Philipp’s campaign.

The brief face-off occurred in a aisle of the First Baptist Church after a rather tame hourlong candidate forum, which was sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and the South Gate Ministerial Assn.

But the candidates said there are important issues in this campaign, especially whether the city acted properly last year in trying to form its own electric utility and whether truck traffic can be limited in this heavily industrialized city.

Incumbents Gonzalez--who has been a councilman for six years (the city’s mayor is elected by council members from among themselves) and John F. Sheehy are being challenged by Philipp and Dorothea Lombardo. Gonzalez and Sheehy are running as a slate, as they did in 1984.

Philipp, who is making his first attempt at political office after retiring as city Community Development Director in 1985, and Lombardo, who has run five previous times, are running independent campaigns.

Gonzalez, 52, had expected political opponents to come after him for his vigorous support of the city’s effort last year to take over Southern California Edison Co.’s business in South Gate.

While neither Philipp or Lombardo has attacked Gonzalez or Sheehy directly, both have accused the council as a whole of trying to quietly take over the electricity business in the city without putting the issue to the voters.

Edison fought the takeover by spending more than $25,000 to alert its 23,000 residential, industrial and commercial customers to the city’s attempt. After a stormy public hearing and thousand of letters sent to City Hall protesting the takeover, the council decided to drop the idea.

The city had contended that by going into the electricity business, South Gate would raise money to replace about $1.2 million in lost federal revenue-sharing money. The money would pay for such city services as police protection and recreational activities. Officials argued that the city could run the system more cheaply and pass savings to customers.

Gonzalez said he still has not changed his mind on the idea but “the people did not want it, and I am willing to listen to the people.”

Gonzalez is assistant director of United Auto Workers International Union, Region 6, which covers nine Western states. He said an important goal is to find a way to control tractor-trailer rig traffic in the city.

Trucks cause substantial street damage and congestion, but truckers pay very little in fees that could be used toward upkeep, Gonzalez said.

He supports a moratorium that the council has placed on new trucking businesses locating in the city, or old ones expanding. A 10-month ban was imposed in February and a consultant was hired for $45,000 to determine the impact of trucking.

Sheehy said he also believes regulating trucking is a major issue for the city because trucks “do a lot of damage to the streets” and create more congestion in an already-overcrowded industrial city of 78,000 people.

The council began taking a closer look at trucking earlier this year when World Oil Co., which manufacturers asphalt shingles at its South Gate plant, applied to the city to lease about four acres near Garfield and Southern avenues to Marc Largent Inc. of Richmond. Andrew Pasmant, director of community development, said the company wanted to put about 50 trucks and 200 trailers on the land. The moratorium stopped that plan, at least temporarily.

The city sent 2,800 questionnaires to surrounding residents and received 458 back. They “overwhelmingly” opposed more trucks because of possible spills, odors, traffic congestion and safety, Pasmant said.

The city cannot control truck travel on state highways within the city boundaries but is trying to regulate the number of trucking companies and where they locate, he said.

On the Edison takeover, Sheehy never took a public stand. He always abstained when the council voted.

“I think it was a sensible approach for the city to investigate the possibility (of running its own utility),” Sheehy said.

He said he believes “everything worked out for the best for the city.” Sheehy noted that after Edison and the city settled the issue, the utility installed 10 heat pumps for nearly $70,000 in the South Gate Park Sports Center. The new electric heat pumps are expected to cost the city about $30,000 less to operate annually than the gas-burning heaters they replaced.

Sheehy, 74, was elected to the council in 1974 soon after retirement as South Gate postmaster. He was defeated in 1978. Sheehy did not run for office again until 1984, when he was elected with Gonzalez.

Philipp, who runs his own industrial and commercial development consultant firm, Aero Delphi Inc., said in a statement submitted to The Times that he supports a “mandatory city policy” to limit truck traffic. It is not clear whether he agrees with the moratorium.

However, Philipp served briefly as a consultant for World Oil and appeared on its behalf before the council. He said he is not representing the company during the campaign, although World Oil contributed $650 in in-kind contributions, including some typing and labeling, to his campaign.

Philipp, 56, worked for the city for 17 years before leaving in 1985. He has accused the council of acting in haste without consulting with the public it represents.

The Edison proposal, for instance, “was done quietly when it should have been politically analyzed before a lot of time was wasted.”

“The same thing can be said about the $45,000 being used for the truck study. They (council members) are paying money out to a consultant for work that could be done by a city planner,” Philipp said.

Lombardo regularly attends council meetings and is an outspoken critic of council action. She described herself as a grass-roots candidate “whose supporters are not wealthy.”

A lecturer and free-lance writer, Lombardo, 64, vigorously opposed the Edison proposal. She criticized the takeover mainly because she said the city did not have the expertise to run an electric company.

She also said she believes the proposal should have gone before the voters.

Lombardo said she does not support the truck moratorium. She says more trucks mean more jobs.

She said she believes council members are overpaid and should should cut their salaries. Council members receive $600 a month, plus a $150 monthly car allowance.

The Gonzalez-Sheehy Reelection Committee had reported at the beginning of the month raising $5,200. More than $3,300 had been spent. The next financial disclosure statements are due at the end of the month.

Philipp said he believes his campaign could cost $10,000 to $15,000. So far, the Philipp camp has reported raising more than $4,000, with a $1,000 coming from Philipp’s own consultant firm.

Rockview Dairies of Downey, which has a business in South Gate, has contributed $2,000 to his campaign, Philipp said. He has appeared before the council as a consultant for the company.

Lombardo said she does not expect to spend more than $1,000 in the campaign.

There are 16,000 registered voters eligible to vote in the election.