STANTON : Mayor Labels Recall Drive Power Politics

In a formal response to the drive to remove him from office, Mayor Sal Sapien said Tuesday that the recall effort was an attempt to control the city by “the same gang that lost the last election.”

Sapien was referring to former Mayor Edward Allen, who was voted out of office in November, and Rand Hogan, a recently dismissed planning commissioner who is spearheading the recall drive.

About 70 citizens, most of them supporters of Sapien, attended a press conference Sapien held outside City Hall about 6 p.m. Tuesday. About a dozen were wearing red carnations as a show of support for the mayor.

A group of angry residents, including Hogan and Stanton Councilmen David John Shawver and Harry Dotson, have called for Sapien’s ouster. The group has criticized Sapien’s support for a new civic center and a controversial auto wrecking yard, Pick Your Part, which was recently ejected from the city.

“How do they expect to balance the budget if they keep kicking businesses out of the city?” Sapien asked before his press conference.

“Pick Your Part is not the only business that suffered during the reign of terror of the people I already mentioned (Shawver, Allen and Hogan),” Sapien said later at the press conference.

Sapien contended that Pick Your Part--a Beach Boulevard auto yard that had been the target of complaints from nearby residents about excessive noise and trash--would bring in $150,000 a year, which would be enough “to pay for a patrolman for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.” But Shawver has argued that Pick Your Part would bring in only $32,000 a year in tax revenue.

The recall statement also criticizes Sapien’s support of “a $5-million City Hall project with a three-story parking garage to house 24 employees . . . when the city is facing severe financial hardships and a deficit (in the) city budget.”

Sapien defended his support of the civic center project.

“The civic center is for all the residents of the city,” he said. “Even tiny little La Palma has a civic center.” Sapien added that funding for the project will come from the city Redevelopment Agency and state grants, not Stanton residents.

Sapien added that he was not concerned by the recall drive, although he denounced the $55,000 price tag for a new election as an “awful waste of taxpayer money.”

“They (opponents) want to embarrass me,” he said. “They want to get their pound of flesh.”

“This is a waste of taxpayer’s money--the issues are unsubstantive,” added Stanton resident Amin David, 52, a supporter of Sapien. “There’s no basis from which to launch a recall campaign. It’s a personal issue.”

City Clerk Darlene Cordova said Sapien was improperly served with the recall notice last week at an adjourned City Council meeting and has since been renotified, although the city has not yet been given a copy of the notice. The city must receive the notice within seven days to meet recall requirements.

For a recall election to be held, signatures of 20% of Stanton’s registered voters on petitions are a prerequisite, according to Rosalyn Lever, county assistant registrar of voters.