Mailer From Pro-Growth Group Shows Candidate’s History of Bankruptcy

A pro-development group has taken aim at another of the leading challengers for the Palmdale City Council, sending out a mailer Wednesday showing that homeowner activist Patricia Alfred had financial troubles including a bankruptcy, liens for unpaid taxes, and lawsuits.

The mailer was sponsored by the developer-backed Southern California Caucus. Public records checked by The Times verified that Alfred and her husband, Jerry, filed for bankruptcy in 1984, and in recent years incurred federal and state tax liens, and lawsuits over unpaid bills.

In an interview, Alfred confirmed those problems and said she and her husband also had two earlier bankruptcies in 1968 and 1976. She blamed their debts on her medical problems and support for a daughter and granddaughter.

Alfred vowed to stay in the race, attacking the sponsor of the mailer as “such scum that they have to bring people’s personal life into it like that and hurt a person’s family.”

The same political group was behind a weekend mailer that disclosed the 1983 drunk-driving conviction of city Planning Commissioner James Ledford, another leading challenger in the April 10 election. Ten candidates, eight challengers and two incumbents, are seeking two council seats.

The executive director of the developers group, political consultant Tim Carey, had been advising Councilman Daniel Becker, one of the two councilmen seeking reelection. But Carey insisted Wednesday that both mailers were arranged and financed by his group, and not Becker’s campaign.

Carey also said that Becker dismissed him as an adviser Sunday after the Ledford mailer. Becker and other city lawmakers had criticized it as an unwarranted personal attack on Ledford. But Carey said voters have the right to know the histories of candidates for public office.

The latest salvo against Alfred, a 50-year-old paralegal and bookkeeper, comes just six days before the city’s April 10 election and as most of the candidates are stepping up their activities. Alfred also is the president of the Joshua Hills Homeowners Assn.

Thus far, developers have sided strongly with the pro-growth incumbents in the campaign, supporting Becker, Councilman Tom Smith, and Mayor Pete Knight, who is seeking reelection in a separate mayoral race. In contrast, Ledford and Alfred say they favor tougher controls on development.

The Alfred mailer, addressed to more than 6,600 voters in the city, recounted the bankruptcy, tax liens and lawsuits against Alfred and her husband under the title, “confidential investigators report.” The mailer asked: “Is This What You Want Controlling Palmdale’s City Finances?”

According to court records, the Alfreds filed for Chapter 7 or liquidation bankruptcy, under which debtors’ assets can be sold off to pay bills, in July, 1984, in federal court in Los Angeles. The case remains active, although the court file shows it is coming to a close.

Property records show that the couple was hit with a federal tax lien in February, 1988, for $7,209 in unpaid taxes for 1981, 1982, 1985 and 1986, but that the lien was paid and removed by June, 1988. The state lien, for only $49 in unpaid taxes and penalties from 1979, was filed in 1986 and paid in 1988.

Court records also showed a 1984 Municipal Court judgment against the couple for $991.95 related to an unpaid hospital bill incurred by Patricia Alfred. At least two other lawsuits for unpaid debts also were filed against the couple, but their outcomes were not immediately available.