STANTON : Mayor Is Served With Recall Notice

Mayor Sal Sapien was served with recall papers Tuesday night by civic leaders angry over alleged campaign improprieties and his support of an auto wrecking yard that city officials forced out of town.

The recall notice was read into the record at Tuesday’s Stanton City Council meeting. During a brief break in the meeting, Sapien said he “got a good laugh” when he was told of the recall drive.

“This is the first time I’ve known about that someone is being recalled for trying to build up the city,” Sapien said.

Sapien’s critics, including two City Council members and a recently dismissed planning commissioner, have criticized him for his support of Pick Your Part auto wrecking yard on Beach Boulevard. After 18 months of legal battling, the city succeeded in closing the yard. The yard had drawn fire from area residents who repeatedly complained of excessive oil fumes, trash and noise.

“People are still screaming about that junkyard to me. The bottom line is that people who live in the area are adamant about not having it there,” Councilman David John Shawver said.

Sapien said he supports the auto wrecking yard because it “will bring $120,000 to $150,000 (in tax revenue) a year to the city” along with “a tremendous number” of jobs for Stanton residents. He charged that the recall drive was launched because “I’m being targeted by a disgruntled former planning commissioner.”

Rand Hogan, the dismissed planning commissioner, has helped organize the recall drive and drafted the required petition.

“This (recall drive) is people basically taking matters into their own hands. . . . It’s a public outcry,” said Hogan, who was an unsuccessful candidate for the City Council in November. “We just haven’t gotten the answers we need from Sal Sapien. Now the public is exercising their rights.”

Hogan was dismissed as a planning commissioner without explanation at the Feb. 26 council meeting by a 3-2 vote, with Sapien and council members Don Martinez and Joe Harris supporting his ouster. Hogan said he does not know if the action is related to the auto wrecking yard controversy.

The recall statement also accuses Sapien of election improprieties. The petition alleges that Sapien “lost the public trust when a political committee he controlled, Stanton Residents United, was found to have violated the Political Reform Act in a local Stanton election.”

A 1988 campaign document and a letter from the California Fair Political Practices Commission, dated April 28, 1989, indicate that the Stanton organization improperly filed a report of non-monetary contributions. The contribution, $1,091 worth of political consulting by the Broadway Group in Santa Ana, exceeded the $1,000 amount that may be reported on the type of form used.

The recall statement also criticizes Sapien’s support of a $5-million City Hall project.

Under state law, 20% of the city’s registered voters must sign petitions supporting a recall vote, according to Assistant Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever.

“We will have to have more than 2,000 (signatures), and we don’t see any problem with getting them,” said Councilman Harry Dotson. “We hate to see this. It’s divisive to the community, but enough people are concerned about this.”