Recall Effort in Hawaiian Gardens : Politics: Critics target 3 council members, citing misuse of office, personal use of city facilities as reasons.

Recall campaigns were launched last week against three members of the City Council--Kathleen Navejas, Esther Flores and Domenic Ruggeri.

City residents Beatrice A. Allen and Joe Cabrera served Navejas with a notice of intent to recall and said they will also serve notice on Councilwoman Flores, a Navejas ally.

Navejas and one of her political appointees, Mary Corrales, a public safety commissioner, served the recall notice on Ruggeri.

Cabrera, an unsuccessful City Council candidate last year, said that he and others want to recall Navejas because she has “misused” her office.

Cabrera said that Navejas used city telephones for personal use, racking up bills as high as $700 in one month. He also said that she has used her office to appoint friends and employees to important city positions.

Flores, who was appointed last year to fill a vacancy on the council, works for Navejas in her bridal stores. “Since Esther is an employee, it’s hard to think she would vote any way except Mrs. Navejas’ way,” Cabrera said.

Corrales also works in Navejas’ bridal business, Cabrera said.

Navejas and Corrales accuse Ruggeri of pressuring city administrators to hire his daughter-in-law, Debby Ruggeri, of having his wife, Frances, use city transportation services, and of using his city phone for personal calls. Ruggeri denied the allegations.

He said his daughter-in-law got her job as a recreation leader on her own, that his wife is disabled and, thus, entitled to use the city’s Dial-a-Ride van service, and that he did not use the phone for personal calls.

Ruggeri has become a vocal critic of Navejas in recent months, although Navejas selected him last spring as her running mate and orchestrated his election campaign. Navejas and Corrales could not be reached for comment.

City Clerk Carol Dorfmeyer said the recall notice against Ruggeri did not meet the technical requirements of state election law and will have to be refiled by Tuesday if the recall process is to continue.

This is the second time in as many years that recall fever has swept the City Council chamber. In 1989, all five members of the council launched recall campaigns against one another. Those efforts eventually fizzled.