Mitoma Hoping to End Divisiveness on Council

The balloting was barely over, the victory celebration was in full swing and Carson Councilman Michael Mitoma, the top vote-getter, was pondering the city’s first council election in years without mudslinging campaign mailers.

“I want to make it as dull as Torrance,” he said, alluding to the consensus politics in Torrance that stand in sharp contrast to the polarization and scandal that have marked Carson’s government over the years. “We are not going to be in the newspapers because we’re going to have good government. It is going to be dull. . . . The people in this city are tired of divisive politics.”

The election provided an endorsement of the three-member council majority--Mitoma, Kay Calas and Vera Robles DeWitt--that has held sway since Mitoma won office in a special election one year ago. All were reelected.

And it was a defeat for the two-member minority faction composed of Councilman Tom Mills and Councilwoman Sylvia Muise and led by Muise. The three challengers Muise backed lost.

Aaron Carter, a Muise-endorsed candidate who lost to Mitoma in 1987, took fourth place. Fifth was Gaddis Farmer, who ran as an independent.

Despite the election afterglow, several factors could be obstacles to municipal tranquility:

Despite a comfortable margin of victory for the incumbents, a precinct-by-precinct analysis of the returns shows that the city remains somewhat polarized. Many mobile home parks and the well-off black areas in the north went for Carter, who is black, by heavy margins, whereas more diverse and generally less prosperous parts of the city, mostly in the south, went for the incumbents by equally heavy margins.

Muise, a tenacious political infighter, has yet to define her role on a council that will be able to outvote her for four years. She could not be reached for comment.

A council vacancy--with the potential for a divisive appointment or special election--could soon result if Mills can no longer serve. Mills has missed all meetings since early January because of illness.

Opponents, who might conclude they lost because they abandoned negative campaigns, could return to the practice in the future.

Mitoma himself may generate controversy. He campaigned aggressively as an official who rooted out scandal and said the election results are an endorsement of that role, which he said he intends to continue.

In the campaign, the incumbents braced for a last-minute barrage of negative mailers that never materialized.

“I think it was a good thing for the city,” said Calas, who has been involved in Carson politics since the city’s incorporation in 1968. “I’m real proud because there was a clean campaign, maybe the first.”

DeWitt agreed. “We are maturing,” she said.

Nevertheless, Paul Ideker, DeWitt’s political consultant, said the losing opponents might consider the hardball adage “Nice guys finish last,” and opt for a “no more Mr. Nice Guy” strategy in the future.

The reelection of the three council members has the immediate effect of avoiding a staff shake-up promised by Muise if any of her candidates--Carter, Leon Cornell and Al Blanco--were elected.

“I’m glad we don’t have to get rid of our staff,” Calas said.

The most likely first victim would have been City Administrator Dick Gunnarson, who was appointed over the objections of Muise and her council ally Mills. Gunnarson, whose one-year contract expires in May, once said he would be “dead meat” if Carter were elected.

Nancy Severtson, secretary treasurer for the city employees union, which had endorsed the three incumbents, said the possibility of yet another shake-up at City Hall had galvanized many employees during the final days of the campaign.

Their campaigning may have counterbalanced efforts to corral the mobile home vote for Muise’s candidates, who also were endorsed by Carson’s Mobile Home Action Committee.

Carter ran well in many mobile home parks, as he did in last year’s special election when he lost narrowly to Mitoma. But in park after park, Mitoma was able to cut into Carter’s margin this year. For example, at the Carson Harbor park, Carter got 199 votes last year to Mitoma’s 10. This year, Carter had 152 and Mitoma 54.

Severtson said the employees made special efforts to call mobile home residents and distribute literature there.

In addition, in almost all the precincts where Mitoma beat Carter in 1987, the incumbent was able to widen his lead.

Other factors boosting the incumbents were the endorsements by political heavyweights, such as Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn and U.S. Rep. Mervyn M. Dymally (D-Compton) and a major advantage in raising money--the incumbents collectively had about five times as much as the Muise slate.

Many said Carter was hurt by criticism that he would do what Muise wants. In addition, Mitoma said Carter suffered because he had less support this year from the ailing Mills, former Carson Mayor Gil Smith, who is running against Hahn for supervisor, Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd (D-Hawthorne) and even Muise.

Carter, however, said he lost because of the incumbents’ financial advantage.