Rematch of Battle for Inglewood Council Seat Set Oct. 3

Inglewood City Council candidates Ervin (Tony) Thomas and Garland Hardeman, who fought a two-year legal battle to the state’s highest court over their 1987 election contest, will meet again in a special election Oct. 3 to decide who will fill the city’s vacant District 4 seat.

The special election, approved by the Inglewood City Council on Tuesday and expected to cost about $10,000, was ordered by a Superior Court judge in October 1987, after Hardeman alleged Election Code violations in the Thomas campaign.

Although the judge’s ruling annulled Thomas’ narrow victory and ordered him to step down pending a new election, Thomas held onto the seat until last week’s council meeting when appeals were exhausted.

Hardeman said he plans to ask the court to force the city and Thomas to pay his legal fees, which he said total $200,000.

Mayor Edward Vincent, a Thomas ally who was accused of intimidating voters during the 1987 campaign, said after Tuesday’s council meeting that he will attempt to stay on the sidelines this time around, although he still favors Thomas.

“The citizens will be able to judge who they want for a councilman,” Vincent said.

The mayor said his clashes with Hardeman since the 1987 campaign, including one incident in December, 1988, in which the mayor summoned police officers to a City Council meeting and threatened to remove Hardeman, will not interfere with his ability to work with whomever the voters support.