Inglewood Mayor, Critic Clash at Meeting

Inglewood political rivalries exploded into a confrontation this week when Mayor Edward Vincent summoned police officers to a City Council meeting and threatened to remove Garland Hardeman, a frequent critic of the mayor.

Vincent became infuriated when Hardeman--a City Council candidate in 1987 who sued to annul the election of a Vincent ally, Councilman Ervin (Tony) Thomas--clapped his hands loudly in response to a statement by Councilman Daniel Tabor. Tabor complained that the part-time council members do little more than “rubber stamp” decisions by the city’s full-time administrators.

Vincent recessed the meeting and announced that Hardeman would be thrown out. Vincent huddled with the city manager, the city attorney and two assistant city managers. Then four Inglewood police officers arrived.

A tense scene ensued. An officer sat next to Hardeman, who was accompanied by his wife and 11-month old son, and spoke to him quietly. Hardeman loudly rejected the officer’s request to step out of the council chambers.

Hardeman, himself a police officer on the Los Angeles force, said he had done nothing wrong.

“I’m not leaving,” Hardeman declared as officers and city officials hovered nearby and Vincent glared at him from the dais. “If you arrest me, be ready for a lawsuit.”

Vincent told Hardeman that he was being disruptive but resumed the meeting. Hardeman remained in his seat and officers remained stationed near the doors.

Hardeman’s lawsuit to annul the election of Thomas, his campaign rival, was upheld in court, and he has spoken frequently at council meetings and styled himself the “de facto” councilman while the city appeals that verdict. However, Thomas was sworn in after the election and remains on the council.

Thomas accused Hardeman of using the council meeting to campaign. Vincent has declined to be interviewed since the meeting.

Both Hardeman and Tabor criticized Vincent, saying he was overreacting.

“You can’t control what I say, whether you like it or not,” Hardeman told the mayor during the public-comments period at the end of the meeting.

“I didn’t come up here to make a show. You chose to put on a show.”

‘Total Overreaction’

Tabor said Wednesday that the decision to summon police was ridiculous.

“It was a total overreaction on the mayor’s part,” he said. “The person chairing the meeting determines the decorum, but it’s a bit much to have officers come in and arrest a person for clapping.”

Several political currents apparently converged to produce the confrontations between Tabor and Vincent and between Hardeman and the mayor:

Tabor and Vincent have both expressed interest in running in a special election Feb. 7 for the 50th Assembly District seat left vacant by the death of Assemblyman Curtis Tucker. The filing deadline is Tuesday, however, and neither has taken out papers to run for the seat. Tabor said Wednesday that he is “seriously reconsidering” whether to run.

Hardeman and Vincent have been bitter rivals since the 1987 council election. At the trial over Hardeman’s lawsuit, Vincent was embarrassed by testimony that he intimidated voters and violated their right to a secret vote. The state Fair Political Practices Commission and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office have said they are investigating the allegations.

Hardeman and Tabor have repeatedly called for structural changes to give council members more power over the city administration, such as the establishment of council committees to oversee city operations. They say that would give minorities in the predominantly black and Latino city more of a voice. The city manager, the two assistant city managers and the city attorney all are white, and none live in Inglewood.

Despite Inglewood’s contentious politics, council meetings have generally been smooth and harmonious. The spark that ignited tension at the sparsely attended meeting Tuesday night came when Vincent curtly rejected Tabor’s request to be on a committee that will select a new financial consulting firm for the city. The panel consists of the mayor and staff members.

Later in the meeting, Tabor gave a lengthy speech criticizing the way “business is done” in Inglewood and, by implication, blaming Vincent. Tabor, a frequent advocate of increased employment and contract opportunities for minorities, said council members do not receive enough information about development projects and other issues to make knowledgeable decisions.

“We basically become the rubber stamp of whatever staff in their infinite wisdom decide,” he said.

Staff Briefings

Vincent interrupted to point out that unlike all other council members, Tabor, a two-term councilman, has chosen not to sit down with staff members each week for a preview of the council agenda. “If you would make your time available, which you have not done for the past five or six years, then you would be aware of what’s going on,” Vincent said.

Tabor later insisted that structural changes, not briefings, are needed.

City Manager Paul Eckles, Assistant City Manager Norman Cravens and City Atty. Howard Rosten sat grim-faced during Tabor’s comments. When he finished, Hardeman clapped loudly for about 15 seconds. Vincent demanded that the applause stop and abruptly recessed the meeting.

“This is America, Mr. Mayor,” Hardeman said. “You can’t have me thrown out of a meeting.”

“Watch and see,” Vincent responded. He left the chambers to confer with administrators until police arrived.

Cravens said the officers were called at the mayor’s direction to prevent the meeting from being disrupted. Rosten cited Penal Code Section 403, which makes it a crime to disrupt a meeting against the wishes of the presiding officer.

‘Part of the Problem’

Tabor said the reaction to his comments showed the sensitivity of the issue he had raised. “I’m going to be talking about it more,” he said. “They (staff members and Vincent) know I’m right. In that the mayor associates himself with the structure as it stands today, he becomes a part of the problem.”

Tabor said Vincent, who lost a ballot initiative to be made full-time mayor last year, favors the current power structure because administrators include the mayor more often than other council members in meetings with developers and in day-to-day decision making.

Tabor said he was not criticizing the abilities of the city’s top administrators, but he charged that they “do not always have the needs of my constituents foremost in their minds. It’s not appropriate that the only people business people see when they come to City Hall are white folks.”