Style Overshadowed Issues, Council Candidates Concede

In the race for the only open City Council seat, candidates Jeff Kellogg and Pat Schauer acknowledge that they have spent less time debating city issues than arguing over each other’s campaign style and tactics.

But both candidates for the District 8 post say they have tried to stick to issues--from airport expansion to crime--that are important to residents of the north Long Beach region.

Schauer, 46, is a real estate businesswoman and the more experienced candidate. She has been a planning commissioner for two years, a member of various city organizations and the organizer of several neighborhood projects. She also ran Councilman Ray Grabinski’s successful campaign for office. Her supporters, including Grabinski and District 8 Councilman Edd Tuttle, who chose not to seek reelection, say she is dedicated, hard working and experienced.

Kellogg, an executive in his family’s oil drilling company, is the newcomer.

Despite his lack of political experience, Kellogg was the leading candidate among seven in the primary, where he took 47.7% of the vote; Schauer had 37.9%.

Kellogg, 34, began campaigning early--before Tuttle announced he would not run for another term. Although an outsider, he has the support--either spoken or implied--of most of the nine-member council. His supporters say he is energetic, bright and hard working.

The race has become expensive for both candidates. The latest campaign finance statements show that Schauer has spent close to $60,000, and Kellogg $47,590. The largest contribution to Schauer’s coffers is $28,000 from Assemblyman Dave Elder--$10,000 is a donation and $18,000 is a loan--along with another $10,000 loan from Tuttle.

More than 40% of Kellogg’s contributions are less than $100, but opponents say that much of his support is coming from oil, development and airport interests. Kellogg denies it.

Schauer and her supporters defend her large contributions as necessary. They say Kellogg has been campaigning for at least 10 months, unlike Schauer, who announced her candidacy only after Tuttle withdrew from the race several months ago.

‘In the Catch-Up Mode’

“I’ve been in the catch-up mode since I started,” Schauer said.

Kellogg has criticized the $38,000 contributions that Schauer received from Elder and Tuttle, saying “two individuals are bankrolling her campaign.”

Schauer said: “Jeff Kellogg set the pace. And in order to win, you can’t spend less than your opponent.”

Kellogg points to Schauer’s large contributions as proof that there should be a limit placed on contributions during elections.

Schauer says there is need for “some sort of reform. I don’t know what the answer is. In my case, I had to accept personal loans from friends to avoid special interests.”

The $28,000 from Elder has been especially controversial.

Councilman Wallace W. Edgerton, for example, says: “A person would have to be a mental midget to not know a deal has been made. . . . There is a deal. If there isn’t a deal, we need to bring in a psychologist and someone needs to lay down on the couch.”

That doesn’t mean “Dave Elder did anything wrong,” continued Edgerton, a Kellogg supporter. But, “from the standpoint of politics, there has to be some kind of agreement.”

‘To Divert Attention’

Elder, a Democrat whose legislative area includes District 8, says that there is no agreement between him and Schauer and that such comments are meant “to divert attention away” from what he considers the real issue in the race: Schauer as the most experienced candidate.

Elder has worked with Schauer, a Republican, on various issues through the years. He acknowledges that his contribution “is a large loan,” but adds: “It gave the district a chance (to consider an alternative to Kellogg). Without that support, it would have been over.”

Schauer says the only promise made to Elder is that she will work for him when he runs for re-election.

Meanwhile, Schauer’s campaign has accused Kellogg of taking contributions from the oil, development and airport interests. Kellogg has received contributions from such interests, according to campaign finance statements, but he argues that his lengthy list of contributors are from all walks of life.

He says 42% of his contributions are less than $100, and most of the rest are $100 to $200--unlike the high figures featured in Schauer’s campaign.

The oil industry-related donations are from friends of his family, he says.

Schauer says she is not accepting money from anyone related to the airport or airline industry. Control over the airport is a key issue in District 8, where residents are fighting airport expansion and its accompanying noise and congestion.

Both candidates oppose airport expansion, but their approaches appear to be different: Schauer emphasizes local control of the airport.

Kellogg says because courts have not favored such local control, a new airport should be built offshore. As a short-term solution, he suggests that the city get federal loans to soundproof homes and schools in areas under the flight path.

Schauer says Kellogg’s soundproofing proposal “just blows me away” because it is not a solution.

Both candidates call for more police officers. Schauer says residents would be willing to pay for more officers via bonds or some other special funding. Kellogg says city officials could pay for more officers by eliminating the police academy and hiring already-trained officers.

Kellogg’s residency has become an issue. Until recently, Kellogg owned a condominium in neighboring District 7. About seven years ago, he signed a homestead tax exemption that said he lived there, and he is listed in the telephone directory with that address. But in campaign literature, he states that he is a lifelong resident of District 8, an area that includes the Carmelitos housing project, the Virginia Country Club, Bixby Knolls and California Heights neighborhoods.

“Either he’s lying to the Eighth District or he lied to get his homeowners exemption,” Grabinski says.

Kellogg says he bought the condominium in District 7 either in 1980 or 1981 and lived there until two years ago, when he moved back into his parents’ home in District 8 to help them take care of his ailing grandmother.

He says he forgot about the exemption and called complaints that he has not been a lifelong resident of District 8 “a nice technicality.”

District 8 is where he works, goes to church and has lived most of his life, he says: “They’re really reaching, because when you talk about the Kellogg family you are talking the 8th District and Bixby Knolls.”

Schauer says Kellogg misled the voters first by saying he is a lifelong district resident, and second by touting his involvement with the North Long Beach Lions Club and the Salvation Army--organizations that he joined within the past year.

Kellogg was appointed to the Salvation Army Advisory Board two months ago, and he has been a member of the Lions Club about a year, according to officials of both groups.

Kellogg responds: “We’re talking really desperate now. What do they want me to do? Not join anything?”

Council members such as Edgerton, Warren Harwood and Thomas J. Clark praise Kellogg for knocking on constituents’ doors and working hard for the council post. Council members such as Tuttle and Grabinski, however, say those are not enough reason to choose a candidate.

Elder agrees: “If we’re going to elect people on the basis of walking precincts, then we should elect members of the Postal Service and employees of the Fuller Brush Co.”