LOCAL ELECTIONS: POMONA CITY COUNCIL : Businessman Replaces the Ousted Bryant

Pomona voters Tuesday elected Boyd Bredenkamp, a businessman backed by the mayor and city employee unions, to succeed a controversial councilman who was recalled in June.

The 49-year-old owner of a local doughnut shop outpolled Bob Dahms, 33, an electronics engineer, by nearly 1,000 votes. Nancy Lopez, 52, a housewife and community volunteer, came in third.

Bredenkamp will fill the remaining 2 1/2 years of the term of C.L. (Clay) Bryant, who was recalled amid allegations that he harassed employees, maligned minorities and kept government in an uproar.

All three candidates promised to serve with more decorum than Bryant, who frequently called the mayor a tramp, once referred to his council colleagues as “a bunch of mental cripples” and was sued for labeling a Pomona police officer a “psychiatric case.”

Bredenkamp was a leader in the campaign to recall Bryant and had the support of Mayor Donna Smith and unions representing police officers, firefighters and other city employees.

He overcame a strong campaign by Dahms, who flooded the city with mailers and had the backing of two council members, Tomas Ursua and Nell Soto.

Bredenkamp said he hoped to bring stability to the City Council.

“I’m confident that we can all work together,” he said.

Lopez, with no endorsement from a council member, had sought to turn that to her advantage by claiming that she was the only independent candidate.

Dahms waged the strongest media campaign, with a series of nine mailers, including one to Republicans that showed him working for Republican candidates and another to Democrats that showed him in the company of Democrats.

All of the candidates had said they were concerned about crime and eager to promote economic development. Their differences had centered on their allegiances. Bredenkamp’s endorsement by the mayor and city employee unions prompted Dahms to accuse the eventual winner of being Smith’s puppet.

Although some calm has been restored to city government since Bryant was recalled, Pomona still is recovering from the events of last year when the council fired the city administrator and police chief.

Several other department heads retired or resigned under pressure as council meetings became a weekly forum for no-holds-barred political attacks. While their meetings are no longer as raucous as they once were, council members are in such conflict that their Aug. 25 pledge to refrain from ridiculing each other lasted less than two weeks, ending in accusations of defamation and dirty politics.

POMONA CITY COUNCIL RACE

Precincts Reporting: 26 of 26

Boyd Bredenkamp: 2,903

Bob Dahms: 1,868

Nancy Lopez: 604