Latino Representation Major Issue in Race : Council: Three incumbents point to their records and brush off challenger’s criticism in city where 50% of its 51,638 residents are Latino.

Three incumbents in the April 14 City Council election are facing a challenge by a Latino community activist who charges that the council is an Anglo “clique” in need of Latino representation.

The incumbents seeking reelection are: Mayor Jay T. Imperial, who is running for his fifth consecutive term on the council, Robert W. Bruesch, who is running for a third term, and Margaret Clark, who won her council seat in a special election last year.

The challenger, Joe Vasquez, last year came within 50 votes of beating Clark.

All three incumbents support each other’s reelection bids and credit themselves for running a tight ship during a time when the recession has forced surrounding cities to slash budgets. The city has been able to use reserves to balance its $14-million budget without cuts, but it may face cuts next year, Assistant City Manager Donald Wagner said.

Vasquez, meanwhile, is endorsed by Councilman Dennis McDonald, who is not up for reelection. McDonald also supports Clark and Bruesch.

A Pacific Bell technician and former Rosemead school board member, Vasquez, 43, has been involved in Latino political issues. Most notably, as a member of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, he served in a coalition to lobby for better representation of Latinos in the last year’s redistricting.

He said he would bring a needed perspective to the five-member council. Vasquez said he and his supporters are focusing their get-out-the-vote efforts in primarily Latino neighborhoods in the south end of Rosemead.

At the same time, Vasquez said he doesn’t want voters to label him an “ethnic” candidate and is emphasizing mainstream concerns, such as boosting family-owned businesses in the city and improving police-community relations.

He said charges of rape and credit card theft filed against deputies in the Temple City Sheriff’s Station last year and a highly publicized civil suit alleging use of excessive force show a need for closer monitoring of the deputies. Although the City Council has no direct control over deputies, Vasquez said he would act as an intermediary between law enforcement and the public.

“If I have to, I’ll go out and meet in the street with Lomas (gang members),” Vasquez said. “(The present council) is reactive to things that happen . . . rather than being proactive.”

Meanwhile, the three incumbents dismiss the notion that only a Latino politician can serve the interests of the 50% of Rosemead’s 51,638 residents who are Latino.

As an example, Clark cited a homeowner fight she and others led against a proposed high school in Rosemead that would have required the use of eminent domain to displace hundreds of houses in a predominantly Latino neighborhood. The project was withdrawn in 1987. “We need people who are sensitive to all the people,” Clark said.

“I speak better Spanish than Joe, if that’s what they’re looking for,” said Bruesch, who teaches a bilingual sixth-grade class at Willard Elementary School in Rosemead.

Bruesch, 47, said he would continue to stress the development of social programs if reelected. He said he has pushed during his eight years on the council for city funding of services such as school anti-drug programs, family counseling and a youth club.

A member of California Common Cause, Bruesch advocates a ceiling on campaign contributions and term limits for elected officials. He said he is running for his third and final term.

Clark, 49, is only the second councilwoman in Rosemead’s 32-year history. Clark said her experience as a mother who had to make do with a limited budget makes her especially qualified to handle money matters. She opposes any tax increases.

She has taught in public elementary schools and now teaches three of her children at home.

Clark is also an ardent opponent of the use of eminent domain to acquire privately owned land for projects. As long as she’s on the council, Clark promised, she will fight any redevelopment project that would force property owners off their land.

As the only council member who has served on the Planning Commission, Clark cited among her accomplishments an ordinance adopted several months ago to cut down on the bulk of new single-family homes.

Imperial, 56, now serving a one-year appointed mayoral term that expires in April, was first elected in 1976. Although one of his council colleagues, McDonald, says it’s time to replace him, Imperial said his long years of service on the council have made him sensitive to the changing needs of Rosemead’s ethnically diverse population.

He said he has brought translators to meetings between Asian-American business owners and city officials to improve communication, and he helped establish a sister-city relationship with Keelung, Taiwan.

“I’ve done my best for this city and will continue to have something to offer, and that’s good, honest government,” Imperial said.

But Imperial said he fears that, with all its diversity, the West San Gabriel Valley is suffering from “the Montreal syndrome . . . people running around saying they can use whatever language they want.”

He supported a 1988 Rosemead law that required English characters on at least 50% of a business sign. Under pressure from Asian-American activists who said the law was discriminatory, the council watered it down so that it no longer requires a certain portion of the sign to be in English.