2 Challengers Set to Oppose Flores in City Council Race

The vice president of the largest homeowners group in Wilmington and a South Los Angeles man who works with troubled youths in Compton have filed to run against harbor-area Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores in the April 11 Los Angeles municipal election.

Both challengers say Flores can be beaten but acknowledge that they have a formidable task ahead of them. City elections, which are nonpartisan, are traditionally friendly to incumbents seeking reelection, in part because they enjoy widespread name recognition and have access to large campaign contributions.

Flores, a two-term incumbent, had already raised more than $200,000 for her reelection bid when she filed her most recent financial disclosure statements last July. Two other campaign committees controlled by the councilwoman but not intended for her reelection effort contained an additional $730,000, according to the statements.

Relying on Volunteers

By contrast, Jo Ann Wysocki, a teacher and part-time librarian who was a founding member of Wilmington Home Owners, said she expects to raise between $5,000 and $7,000 for the campaign. Clifford E. McClain, a consultant on community development issues, said he will be relying “on a mass of volunteers” instead of large amounts of money.

The ethnically, socially, economically and geographically diverse 15th District poses particular problems for political newcomers. The eclectic district--which includes Wilmington, San Pedro, Harbor City, Harbor Gateway, Watts and parts of South Los Angeles--is a patchwork of unrelated communities stretching over 15 miles.

Flores won her first City Council election in 1981 after working the district for 25 years as an aide to her predecessor, former Councilman John S. Gibson Jr. Wysocki and McClain hope that grass-roots campaigns in their corners of the district will gain momentum and spread to other communities where today they are virtually unknown.

Although such campaigns are difficult, there has been precedent elsewhere in the city. Two years ago, Ruth Galanter was able to convert a wave of homeowner discontent over development on the Westside into an upset victory over entrenched City Council President Pat Russell. But with this year’s municipal election just three months away, no issue of equivalent intensity--one that could unite residents throughout the district--seems to have emerged in the 15th District.

Bombarded by Critics

Despite the odds, Wysocki has been talking about challenging Flores for the last year. After her reelection in 1985, Flores was bombarded by critics in Wilmington, including Wysocki, who complained that she neglected Wilmington and spent most of her energies on neighboring San Pedro.

In her second term, Flores has attempted to placate the homeowners, pushing for several programs supported by the community, including a proposal to provide waterfront recreational access and an effort to landscape unsightly oil wells. Most Wilmington activists have toned down their criticism of the councilwoman and have begun working with her.

“Flores is finally trying to do something for Wilmington,” said Gertrude Schwab, who has been active in several community causes. “I am undecided about who I will support, and that is really saying something for Flores because we were firmly against her all the time.”

But Wysocki, 53, said in an interview Tuesday that Flores’ interest in Wilmington has been fleeting and insincere. She charged that Flores has been inaccessible, uncaring and caught up in “the glamour, the trappings, the power and the prestige” of her office.

‘Nothing We Can Do’

“I have listened to her staff say too many times, ‘There is nothing we can do,’ ” said Wysocki, who is single and lives with her mother on the western edge of Wilmington. “I don’t believe this statement. I preach and practice: ‘Sit down and see what we can do together.’ ”

McClain too says Flores is beatable. He said in an interview that Flores “is not as secure as some might think” and that his campaign would focus on encouraging greater community involvement in city decisions that affect the district.

McClain, 48, works with the Compton Unified School District on a state-funded dropout prevention program at the Willowbrook Middle School. He made an unsuccessful run for the state Assembly in 1966 and failed in a bid for a school board seat in Riverside County in 1980, he said. Twice divorced, he has lived with his mother on West 117th Street since 1981.

McClain said he decided to run after informally polling residents in his area and discovering that they were concerned about crime, inadequate city services and an unresponsive city government.

“A lot of times it seems like the councilperson responds to those people who she knows have troops out in the community,” McClain said. “My feeling is that you definitely have to give people the feeling they have access and show them how to get it.”

Welcomes Challenges

Flores, in a brief interview Tuesday before leaving for Washington for George Bush’s inauguration, said she welcomes the challenges from Wysocki and McClain. Flores easily won reelection in 1985, when she was unopposed except for a write-in candidate.

“I accept campaigns as my employment review period,” said Flores, 52, who is divorced and lives in the South Shores area of San Pedro. “We are going to conduct our campaign in that manner. Just to let people know what we have been doing and how responsive we have been.”

Flores said she did not know McClain, but she defended her record in Wilmington and predicted that she will not lose support there because of Wysocki’s candidacy.

“I am really pleased about what has been going on in Wilmington,” she said. “I am probably more proud of that than of anything else I have done.”

Wysocki’s bid comes at an awkward time for the Wilmington Home Owners group, which has been working to mend relations with Flores. Wysocki, regarded as a workhorse for the group but somewhat of an outsider, said that she will not resign as vice president and that she expects to ask the group for a formal endorsement.

Barred From Politics

The homeowners group, which intends to seek nonprofit status from the state, is barred under its proposed bylaws from becoming involved in politics, according to Olivia Cueva Fernandez, the group’s secretary. Even so, several members said, it is uncertain whether the group would endorse Wysocki even if it could.

“I think the majority are on Flores’ side,” one member said. “There is a different attitude now. We are getting what we want.”

Others, however, said Wilmington residents would rally behind Wysocki, eager to send one of their own to City Hall.

“I don’t think there is anybody as well known in Wilmington as Jo Ann,” Schwab said. “She has done a lot for Wilmington and is always involved in the latest issues. She has a lot of followers in Wilmington.”

Candidates for City Council were required to declare their intention to run by last Saturday, but in order to qualify for the ballot, they must submit 500 signatures and pay a $300 fee by Feb. 4. Candidates can avoid paying the fee by gathering 1,000 signatures.

If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote on April 11, a runoff between the top two finishers will be held June 6.