ELECTIONS WEST HOLLYWOOD : Race Focuses on Control of Council

West Hollywood voters are getting a flurry of last-minute mailers, phone calls and hand-delivered flyers as nine City Council candidates make their final pitches for votes for Tuesday’s election.

With three seats up for grabs, voters will determine a majority on the five-member council, which has been dominated by the Campaign for Economic Survival, architect of the city’s rent control ordinance, since incorporation in 1984.

But with no other pressing issues, many observers expect the turnout among the city’s 20,000 voters to be low.

CES-backed candidate John Heilman is the only incumbent in the race; council members Helen Albert and Steve Schulte decided not to seek reelection. Heilman, who has served on the council since incorporation, and fellow CES-backed candidate Babette Lang, 77, are running a joint campaign and are considered front-runners.

Also expected to make strong showings are Sal Guarriello, 71, who is backed by CES but has run a separate campaign; Steve Martin, 35, an attorney who is backed by Schulte, and Robert K. Davis, 44, a swimming pool contractor with strong support on the east side.

Other candidates include John O’Brien, 41, a gay activist; the Rev. John W. VonDouris, 44, a member of the United Lesbian and Gay Christian Scientists; John C. (Jack) Reilly, 55, a retired teacher, and Jim Sorkin, 37, an actor and house painter.

Campaign contributions for the filing period ending in March showed that Heilman had raised $17,809, Lang $11,370, Martin $24,469, Guarriello $15,939, and Davis $11,548. Reilly reported no contributions. None of the other candidates had filed papers that are required for contributions over $1,000.

A political action committee for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ Local 3339, the union representing the city’s 90 workers, reported raising $3,700 in contributions to support three candidates it endorsed: Guarriello, Martin and Lang.

Throughout much of the campaign, Heilman has been criticized by other candidates for being pro-development and for supporting a failed referendum in November on construction of a $23-million Civic Center in West Hollywood Park.

Martin also criticized Heilman for approving a deal with hotelier Severyn Ashkenazy that allowed Ashkenazy to convert 200 apartments to hotel rooms in exchange for paying the city $250,000 a year for 20 years to replace the lost housing and guaranteeing not to evict about 40 tenants.

And Martin and other candidates have attacked Lang’s position as a tenant-rights advocate because she has owned apartment buildings; a Martin mailer accused Lang of being a slumlord. “She is a former real estate speculator and slumlord,” Martin said when asked about the mailer.

Lang, a practicing psychologist, said she was once a landlord but added: “I am absolutely outraged. This is the biggest pack of lies that I have ever heard. We ran good, clean buildings. We didn’t gouge the tenants and we were not slumlords.”

She said the buildings were never cited for health code violations and were sold seven years ago. “The experience of being a landlord gave me a better perspective on the issues involving tenants and made me a stronger supporter of renters’ rights.”

Heilman and Lang, in their first mailer last month, accused Martin of being “the landlord’s No. 1 candidate.” The mailer accused Martin of writing an article opposing rent control in a landlord’s magazine in October, 1984. Martin, who serves on the rent stabilization commission along with Lang and Guarriello, denies ever writing the article, which was published under his byline.

Two mailers by the AFSCME local attacking Heilman sparked criticism of the union’s leaders by city workers who accused their union of acting without consulting the rank and file. The union, which has accused Heilman of being pro-management, raised dues last year with the goal of taking a more active role in the election.

But union members last week protested their leadership’s support of a slate of candidates, including Guarriello, whose campaign is being managed by a union vice president. A petition protesting the endorsements was signed by 54 members, more than half the local. Guarriello said the union’s actions were being orchestrated by Heilman supporters and CES, which was not pleased with his recent attacks on Heilman. Guarriello later apologized for comments against CES, one of his major supporters, saying that “in the heat of my current political campaign, I made a remark . . . that I regret.”

Despite his CES endorsement, Guarriello, a retired insurance agent, has been campaigning against the current council, including Heilman. “There has been too much development in the city and it has to be slowed down,” he said.

Davis has accused the city of not doing enough to revitalize the east end of town, where he draws much of his support. He accused the city of trying to “trash” the east side by putting a shelter for the homeless on La Brea Avenue. “They’re trying to litter the city with vagrants, derelicts and drug addicts,” said Davis, who has called for the creation of more affordable housing in the city.

In the meantime, Heilman and Lang’s most recent mailer saying that they are the only candidates in the race openly opposed to gambling has sparked another controversy, including criticism that they accepted money from supporters of legalized gambling who want to put a gambling club in the city.

Jerry Gould, general manager of the West Hollywood Club, also known as the Cavendish, said he wrote checks to Lang, Guarriello, Heilman and Martin.

But all four candidates say they do not support legalized gambling and deny that they received checks from Gould. They each said they would not accept his contributions had he made one.

“He knows who the candidates are who are ahead, so he is going to try to give money to everyone,” Heilman said. “They are trying to buy their way into the city. Well, he can take his money and shove it.”