Lawndale Candidate Faces Arrest Warrant for Speeding

Gary McDonald, a former Lawndale planning commissioner and a candidate for City Council in the April 10 election, faces a misdemeanor arrest warrant for a speeding ticket he received in Inglewood in January, 1989.

The warrant was issued last April 27 in Inglewood Municipal Court after McDonald failed to meet an April 13 deadline to provide proof that he had attended traffic school, court officials said Thursday.

McDonald can avoid arrest by providing that proof or by paying a $243 fine, officials said.

McDonald said Friday that he attended Aids Driving School in Lawndale in January, 1989, and that it is possible he did not send documentation to the court. He said he paid in cash and does not have a canceled check to show he attended the school, but he said he will clear up the problem on Tuesday.

The school, which is headquartered in Santa Ana, has since closed its Lawndale branch. Rob Blamey, a spokesman for the school, said he has been unable to find a record of McDonald’s attendance. But he said it is possible that records might have been misplaced.

Council members and other candidates in the April election said McDonald should be held accountable for the violation.

“If he is going to be a council member he should pay his tickets,” said Councilman Dan McKenzie, a longtime supporter who signed McDonald’s nomination papers.

Some critics said that McDonald, who has made a point of personally investigating alleged wrongdoing by city employees, should not ignore the law as it applies to him.

Virginia Rhodes, a community activist and mayoral candidate in the upcoming election, said: “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.”

The warrant stems from a ticket McDonald received on Jan. 10, 1989. On that day Inglewood police stopped him in the 800 block of Main Street for driving 43 m.p.h. in a 25 m.p.h. zone.

According to court officials, McDonald had until April 13 to show that he had attended traffic school. But the deadline passed, and when Inglewood court officials had still received no word from McDonald by April 27 they issued the warrant.

McDonald played down the significance of the warrant and said his critics and challengers should concentrate on the issues in the election and not on personalities.

“If it was a murder warrant or a robbery warrant, I would understand; but this is petty,” he said.

Longtime supporter Councilman Larry Rudolph agreed. “There are issues out there. Why can’t they talk about the issues?” he said.

However, Councilwoman Carol Norman, a vocal critic of McDonald, said the warrant and other past incidents indicate a pattern.

“He seems to feel he is above laws,” she said. “There is a certain arrogance in his behavior.”

In December, McDonald was criticized by Mayor Sarann Kruse for operating his development consulting business for almost six months without a business license. McDonald renewed his license a week after a Times reporter asked him about it.

In 1988, Kruse accused McDonald of plagiarism in a campaign statement he wrote for Councilman Harold Hofmann. McDonald later issued a public apology, saying he thought lines he copied from Kruse were common phrases that could be used without attribution. “I realize now I was totally wrong,” he said at the time.

Often described by critics as a zealot who tries to interfere in city business without respect to due process, McDonald has nonetheless conducted several one-man investigations that have resulted in disciplinary actions or dismissal of city employees.

For example, it was McDonald’s research of city records that prompted an investigation of an alleged scheme by city maintenance workers to embezzle money and property. Last month the district attorney’s office filed four felony charges against a former maintenance supervisor who allegedly headed the scheme.