Political Drama in Inglewood : Tucker’s Son-in-Law, Latino Challenging Veterans in Council Race

As the four candidates vying for seats on the Inglewood City Council scurry to attract last-minute supporters in the June 6 balloting, those active in the city’s political scene view the contests as high drama:

An ambitious incumbent versus the son-in-law of a late political legend.

A former officeholder attempting to reclaim his seat versus a newcomer who would become the first Latino elected to the council.

In the prosperous, predominantly black 1st District, challenger John C. Gibbs, the former aide and son-in-law to the late Assemblyman Curtis Tucker, is hoping to short-circuit the political career of Daniel K. Tabor, a popular two-term councilman facing his first runoff.

Gibbs, endorsed by Mayor Edward Vincent, edged Tabor by 59 votes in April, winning 39.8% of the ballots to Tabor’s 37.1%. Gibbs, in his first bid for political office, is considered a serious threat by Tabor, who is running aggressively. While each man had raised about $17,000 as of May 20, the Tabor campaign was heavily in debt, having spent $27,798 to Gibbs’ $12,288.

In District 3, an ethnically diverse area covering Inglewood’s downtown and west side, the race has become a classic veteran-newcomer struggle, despite the lack of an incumbent.

The two candidates, former two-term councilman Bruce U. Smith and first-time office-seeker Jose A. Fernandez, are vying to finish the two years left in the term of Ann A. Wilk, who died last December.

Leadership Issue

At issue is the leadership ability of Smith, who was defeated by Wilk in a close runoff election in 1987. While Smith, 69, cites his eight years in office from 1979 to 1987 as proof of his ability to handle the job, Fernandez, 29, an aide to state Sen. Cecil N. Green (D-Norwalk), says Smith has shown he is ineffective in addressing residents’ needs.

In District 1, the contest between Tabor, 34, and Gibbs, 32, has its historical roots in another political race. Tabor made an unsuccessful bid for Tucker’s Assembly seat in the 1987 Democratic primary, capturing only about 20% of the vote from his entrenched opponent.

Tucker vowed then to end Tabor’s political career, and some political observers say Gibbs’ campaign for the Tabor seat is an attempt to fulfill that threat.

Gibbs, however, says he is running because 1st District voters are ready for a change. He cites his finish over Tabor in April as a sign from the voters.

Name Recognition

“Tabor’s name was a household word,” Gibbs said. “People were unaware of who I was. I was in the wings working for someone else. . . . Now I’m the frontrunner and he’s the challenger. If you beat a guy once, you can beat him again.”

Although Gibbs acknowledges that the Tucker family connection may have its advantages, he says he is campaigning aggressively on his own record of legislative experience and community service in such groups as the Watts Health Foundation and the American Red Cross.

Gibbs said he learned how local and state government operate by working as an Assembly aide. “I’m not a neophyte in politics,” Gibbs said.

The main issue of the campaign, according to Gibbs, is accessibility. Gibbs charges that Tabor has been slow in responding to the problems of his constituents and that he has neglected city problems in favor of other activist issues.

“People tell me as I go door-to-door that Danny Tabor has had eight years and they don’t see any fruit” from his efforts, Gibbs said. “They haven’t seen him.”

“I’m accessible,” Tabor asserts. “No question about it.”

He said he answers every phone call, that his home number is available through City Hall and that he is available to district residents on a 24-hour basis. He said he also helped establish a 24-hour answering service at City Hall.

“People don’t know who John Gibbs is or what he’s done,” the incumbent said. “What is his experience? Where did he get it? Just because he had a business card and worked for his father-in-law? You don’t gain local government experience working for Sacramento.”

Tabor said his achievements in office include establishing a city office to assist owners of small businesses, working for the passage of an ordinance to attract minority building contractors to the city, and helping to revitalize the city’s downtown business district.

After the April election, Tabor challenged Gibbs to as many debates as Gibbs was willing to have. Gibbs agreed, but he has declined to meet Tabor on several occasions and the two candidates have not debated.

“Gibbs has yet to agree to debate,” Tabor said. “Clearly, people need to see us together.”

But Gibbs said a candidates’ forum on Tuesday, which he did not attend, and other offers to meet face-to-face have been arranged by Tabor backers and that he had no assurances of impartiality.

In District 3, the underdog Fernandez edged Smith by 31 votes, 390 to 359, in the April election despite a low-budget campaign. Since then, Fernandez has more than doubled his campaign chest, which stood at $12,980 as of May 20. But Smith’s campaign fund, $16,541 as of May 20, still gives him a comfortable edge.

Both District 3 candidates have made experience the catchword of the campaign: having it, not having it, having the wrong kind.

Honest and Loyal

“If Fernandez were fortunate enough to be elected, it would be six to eight months before he knew all the doors to knock on,” said Smith, who owns a metal finishing business in Inglewood. “The people in this city know me and know I’m honest and loyal.”

But Smith’s critics say he lacks leadership, and they are quick to point out that voters rejected him once already.

“My opponent has a track record,” said Fernandez, who owns an insurance brokerage firm. “It’s been a fairly bad record when it comes to being responsive and being in touch with the community.”

Fernandez said his work in intergovernmental relations and constituent services in Green’s office has prepared him for the City Hall post. “I know how to work the system,” he said. “That’s my job.”

Two others who sought the District 3 seat in April, Muhammad Nassardeen and Claude Lataillade, have lined up behind Fernandez, saying he has the best chance of setting a new agenda in City Hall.

“I think Bruce Smith had two shots at it and it’s obvious that the city didn’t go up under his reign,” said Nassardeen, a businessman who finished fourth in the five-way District 3 contest in April. “We need some fresh ideas in there.”

Conservative, Efficient

Smith said he lost to Wilk in 1987 by fewer than two dozen votes and prides himself on having been a conservative, efficient councilman. “I have never failed to return a call or take a call,” he said.

Smith said crime and gang problems are the most pressing issues facing the city, and he proposed involving young people in neighborhood block clubs as one way to keep them off the streets.

Calling his previous terms in office productive ones, Smith said he was involved in organizing new block clubs throughout the district and that he saved the city $200,000 in insurance payments through his work on the Independent Cities Risk Management Authority.

Fernandez said he will work to improve relations between the city and the schools, to enhance the city’s bus service and anti-graffiti program and to ensure that city codes protect residential areas from commercialization.

Fernandez would be Inglewood’s first Latino councilman in a district that is largely Latino, with a large black population and concentration of long-time white residents. Although Fernandez says his campaign has helped to energize the city’s Latino community, which has largely been dormant politically, he considers that group to be only one segment of a diverse campaign organization.

Courting Latino Voters

“I would understand that common culture and language, but I will be a spokesman for all the people,” Fernandez said.

But Smith is courting the Latino vote as well, and Smith supporters argue that their candidate has done more for them than Fernandez ever has.

“You have to ask yourself: ‘What has he (Fernandez) done for the Hispanic community?’ ” said Ricardo Pinos, an engineer at Hughes Aircraft who is supporting Smith.

Charles Coronado, an Inglewood businessman, said Smith’s support of city soccer leagues and his availability to all those with problems demonstrate his concern for Inglewood’s Latinos.

“Bruce Smith supports a lot of issues for Latinos,” Coronado said. “Jose Fernandez? I’ve never heard of him.”

Mayor Vincent, usually an active force in local elections, is straddling the fence in the District 3 runoff.

“I think they are two very good candidates,” he said. “I think the people in District 3 are in good shape either way.”