Hardeman, Thomas: More Bad Blood : New Campaigning Under Way as Stage Is Set for Election in Fall

Ervin (Tony) Thomas, his arms folded across his chest, stood outside the Lockhaven Community Center in southeast Inglewood on Thursday night and tried to bar challenger Garland Hardeman from attending the block club meeting inside.

Hardeman, Thomas’ rival for the District 4 seat on the Inglewood City Council, stood his ground.

“I’m going to call the police,” Thomas warned Hardeman in a strained tone.

“You go ahead,” Hardeman shot back.

The two-year rivalry between Hardeman and Thomas, which began as a clash between two neophyte politicians in the 1987 City Council race and turned into a courtroom battle over the results of that election, continues to rage.

Voters Intimidated

The most recent round of campaigning began this month, shortly after the state Supreme Court refused May 24 to hear an appeal in the case. A new election is certain this fall, although the date has not yet been set.

A Superior Court judge found that Thomas’ supporters intimidated voters and invaded their right to ballot secrecy in the 1987 election. The judge annulled Thomas’ victory and ordered him to step down and face Hardeman again at the polls.

Mayor Edward Vincent, one of Thomas’ supporters accused of pressuring voters, denies any wrongdoing. He says he will again throw his political weight behind Thomas.

As the campaigning gets under way, with Thomas clinging to his seat on the council, each man is attempting to turn the two years of turmoil to his advantage. The court decision is downplayed and denigrated by the Thomas camp and highlighted by Hardeman supporters.

“The struggle for justice goes on,” Hardeman’s campaign literature declares. To Hardeman, the court’s decision proves that Thomas is controlled by the mayor and is not fit for public office.

“This man took my seat illegally and has held it for two years,” Hardeman, 32, a Los Angeles police officer, said in an interview last week. “ . . . He’s proven he has no integrity.”

Thomas is also trying to use the two years of legal limbo to his advantage, fashioning himself as the incumbent even though the court decision requires him to step down before Tuesday’s council meeting.

Thomas says he is the only candidate in the race with government experience and a proven record of serving the district. Thomas disputes the conclusions reached by the court and says he wants to put the 1987 election controversy behind him and concentrate on the real issues facing District 4 residents.

“What’s done is done,” said Thomas in an interview after last Tuesday’s council meeting.

Absentee Ballots Key

“I didn’t personally break any laws or violate the Election Code,” said Thomas, 47, an administrator for the 7-Up Bottling Co. “If that’s the only thing (Hardeman) has to go on, what happened in the court, I don’t see him winning.”

When Thomas and Hardeman met the first time in April 1987, Hardeman topped Thomas, 48.2% to 29.6%, in a five-way contest that forced the June, 1987, runoff. Although Hardeman was ahead of Thomas when returns from the voting booths were counted, absentee ballots gave Thomas the win.

Then came the lawsuit.

Thomas must step down when the city receives official notice of the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case. That is due to arrive in Inglewood on Monday. The city must call a special election between 96 and 120 days after it receives that notice, officials said, putting the election sometime between late September and mid-October.

To promote his campaign this time around, Thomas points to his record in addressing District 4 problems, such as poor economic development and high crime. He also stresses his accessibility to residents.

One supporter, Meg Roi, described Thomas in an interview as “fair, honest and just” and said he has demonstrated over the last two years that “he has the well-being of the community in mind.”

Roi was one of about a dozen block club members who gathered in the Lockhaven Community Center on Thursday to relate neighborhood concerns to Thomas.

Hardeman, after the brief, heated exchange with his rival at the door, attended the meeting. Thomas backers were in the majority, and Hardeman said it was worth the effort to ensure the block-club session wasn’t turned into a political rally.

Focus on Crime

Hardeman, who calls Thomas’ record in office unimpressive, said his focus as a councilman would be on reducing crime, drafting an economic blueprint for the city and improving living conditions for the city’s poor.

While Thomas has sought to gain an advantage by serving as councilman, Hardeman has played the role of a gadfly. He has called for Thomas’ resignation at City Council meetings and cast “votes” of his own on city issues. He has attended Thomas campaign events and challenged his opponent’s record. He has walked the district, spreading his view of the court decision, which he hopes residents will understand and act on.

Although the two say they hope to steer clear of negative campaigning, they are using some of the same attacks employed in the 1987 race.

Hardeman supporters are quick to bring a third name into the Thomas-Hardeman contest, that of Mayor Vincent, whom Hardeman accuses of orchestrating Thomas’ political career.

Some Inglewood political observers argue that Vincent suffered a political blow in the school board and council elections earlier this month and has a vested interest in keeping an ally such as Thomas in City Hall.

“He’ll be fighting for his political life,” Terry L. Coleman, a Hardeman supporter, said of the mayor. “The race isn’t Hardeman versus Thomas; it’s Hardeman versus Ed Vincent.”

Praise for Thomas

Vincent said he will continue to endorse Thomas, a man who the mayor says has “proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s a good councilman.”

Vincent shook his head after a recent council meeting when asked about Hardeman: “Garland is negative about everything. We want to be positive. We want to change things. He has never come here and said something positive.”

Raising another issue that dominated the 1987 campaign, Thomas, a 17-year Inglewood resident, questioned Hardeman’s ties to the community and suggested that his rival, who moved into the 4th District months before the 1987 election, will use the City Council seat merely as a steppingstone to higher office.

“I am committed to be a councilman,” responded Hardeman, who has been mentioned as a possible challenger to Vincent in the 1990 mayoral race. “If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have held onto this battle for two years.”