Attorney Colin Wins Runoff Vote for Seat on Redondo Council

Steve Colin, who lost last year by five votes, won a seat on the Redondo Beach City Council in a runoff Tuesday that drew the largest voter turnout in the city’s history for a special election.

Colin, 31, an attorney, credited his victory in District 3 to what he called a “hokey” grass-roots campaign. Colin received 873 votes, or 53.7%. His opponent, William R. (Bill) Mona, a union business representative, received 753 votes, or 46.3%.

Reacting to his loss, Mona accused his opponent of “mudslinging” and said two local newspapers were biased against him. A reporter for the Daily Breeze, who denied any bias, said that a Mona supporter at the candidate’s post-election party grabbed his notebook and tried to tear it up before the reporter was able to retrieve it.

Large Turnout

Voter turnout was 25.7%, said City Clerk John Oliver, who had predicted a 20% turnout. A 16% turnout is average for districtwide special elections, and 22% is typical for citywide mayoral races, he said.

Oliver, Colin and Mona all said that the aggressive campaigning of the candidates and their supporters helped draw voters.

Of his own campaign, Colin said: “It was a campaign I don’t think we’ve seen in this town in a long time. It was hokey. I loved it.”

On the Saturday before the election, a 25-car, vote-for-Colin parade weaved through District 3, complete with red, white and blue streamers and balloons. Colin sat on two bales of hay in the back of a truck, waving. “Even the Mona people were waving back,” he said.

Colin’s 50-member campaign committee hung political potholders on doorknobs and passed out colorful poster maps of the district, which is bordered by Marshallfield Lane, 190th Street, Paulina Avenue and the Torrance and Hermosa Beach city limits.

Driven to Polls

Colin and his committee spent election day calling voters and driving them to the polls.

Colin also credited the turnout to district residents being tired of “what was happening at City Hall” and lack of representation.

The District 3 seat has been vacant since November, when Marcia Martin resigned to pursue a career as an Orange County sheriff’s deputy. Martin--who beat Colin by five votes in the March, 1987, election--quit eight months after winning a second four-year term.

Colin, who will be sworn in Tuesday, will serve the remaining three years of Martin’s term.

In a special election in March to fill the vacant seat, Colin came in second, after Mona and ahead of

William Brad Parton. Since no one received a majority, Colin and Mona were forced into a runoff.

Colin and Mona agreed on many district issues--both said traffic needs to be reduced, housing density lowered and Dominguez Park improved--and on most citywide issues. Colin opposes giving city money to help storm-damaged businesses in King Harbor, whereas Mona said the city should provide some help.

Colin’s victory gives Mayor Barbara J. Doerr an ally on the five-member council for the first time in three years. Doerr is often at odds with the other council members, and Colin, who has frequently attended council meetings, has tangled with all of them as well.

Colin said he is confident that he will be able to work with his political opponents on the council. “It’s got to be professional. I think we’re going to work together,” he said.

Councilman Ronald Cawdrey, a strong Mona supporter, said during an interview at Colin’s victory party, where he had gone to congratulate the winner: “I could work with the devil; why in the hell couldn’t I work with Steve?”

During his campaign, Colin often criticized Mona for being “the hand-picked candidate” of Cawdrey and Councilman Archie Snow, who also supported Mona. Mona continually tried to distance himself from the councilmen, saying that while the two are his friends, he was an independent candidate.

Special-Interest Label

After the election, Mona criticized Colin’s insistence on linking him to the two councilmen and labeling him as a “special-interest candidate” because of contributions he received from various unions. He said Colin was “mudslinging.”

Mona, 54, business representative for United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 770, said that the union-connected donors were friends and that they could not benefit by his election to the City Council.

“I told the truth, I stated my issues and I stayed away from mudslinging,” he said on election night.

Mona said he believes that two local newspapers, the Daily Breeze and the Easy Reader, were biased toward Colin in their coverage of the race.

Easy Reader Editor George Wiley said the weekly’s stories were fair. “He’s just whining because he lost,” Wiley said.

Daily Breeze reporter Tim Woodhull also denied the accusation. He said Wednesday that when he went to the Mona post-election party--after other reporters had left--Mona accused the press “of killing his campaign” and walked away without elaborating.

Woodhull said Mona’s wife and another supporter continued the accusations, and said the supporter took his notebook and tried to tear it up.

“I grabbed hold of the notebook, he grabbed hold of me,” the reporter said.

Surprised by Incident

When he retrieved the notes, some were torn and unreadable, he said. He said that he was surprised by the incident and that no one had complained about the stories until the election was over.

“Our responsibility is to report the news, not make the news,” he said. “I’ll let our stories stand. That’s the end of it as far as I’m concerned.”

The Monas could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Mona said in a previous interview that regardless of press coverage, getting the endorsement of one-time opponent Parton helped him get some votes, and he said he takes consolation from the record voter turnout.

Mona was quick to dismiss any hard feelings. After his campaign party ended, he went to Colin’s victory party to congratulate the winner.

“When the race is over, the loser is hurt, but why be hurt, because the district is benefiting,” Mona told Colin and about 50 of the winner’s supporters, noting that the district has been without representation for six months. The group cheered and the two candidates toasted each other.