2 Gardena Incumbents Win; Latino Elected

Gardena voters gave new terms to two incumbent councilmen and, in a close treasurer’s race, elected the city’s first Latino official.

In what Mayor Donald L. Dear called a mandate to keep the City Council team intact, voters returned incumbents James W. Cragin, 63, and Paul Y. Tsukahara, 61, for another four years. The incumbents turned back challenges by Ollie B. Hadley, 50, and Eldore (Bud) Nelson, 62.

Treasurer’s Race

In the treasurer’s race, accountant Lorenzo Ybarra narrowly defeated Kenneth L. Sutton, a retired federal official, and Jonathan Kaji, a real estate consultant. Ybarra, who led by fewer than 100 votes as more than 400 absentee ballots were being counted, pulled ahead to win by 104 votes. He had 36.4% of the vote to Kaji’s 34.2% and Sutton’s 29.4%.

Dear and City Clerk May Doi were unopposed.

Tsukahara, who will begin his third term on the council next week, came in first among the council candidates with 35.3% of the votes.

Cragin, who received 32.1% of the vote, said the election results were “what I expected.”

“This council has always put the community first and I think the people out there realize that,” he said.

Cragin said challenger Hadley, who would have become the city’s first black councilman, “made this election a black-white issue.”

One of Hadley’s proposals was to have council candidates run in districts rather than at large, a change that he said would provide more balanced representation. The City Council is studying the idea, but Hadley said he was considering going to federal court to force the city to change.

“We must have black representation on the City Council,” Hadley said. “If you don’t know the concerns of the voters, you can’t represent the people.”

Blacks made up 22.6% of Gardena’s population in 1980, according to the Census Bureau. Hadley estimated that the proportion has increased to 30% since then.

Nelson, a regular at council meetings who financed his own campaign, said he was disappointed at his defeat but would continue lobbying to restrict apartment development in the city.

Ybarra, 46, spent only $4,000 for his successful campaign for treasurer, whereas candidates Sutton and Kaji each spent more than $16,000.

‘Thrifty With Money’

“I suspect some people took notice we were thrifty with money,” said Ybarra, a Gardena native and a Harvard business graduate. “More importantly, people accept and recognize that I have the training and background to represent the whole community.”

Kaji, 32, the nephew of Councilman Tsukahara, said his showing was “not too bad for my first try” at elected office. He said he would not rule out another run for political office.

Sutton, 63, said he was “surprised and disappointed at the outcome, but it was a fair, clean campaign, and I have nothing but respect for both opponents.”