Furious City Manager Gives Employee Groups a Civics Lesson

Downey City Manager Gerald M. Caton is none too pleased with the recent interest of several city employee organizations in the upcoming City Council elections--especially since they want to know what the nine candidates think of his work.

The Downey Police Officers Assn., City Employee Assn., Downey City Maintenance Workers and the Public Safety Auxiliary have joined forces to “evaluate” all candidates in the race for possible endorsement. Earlier this month, they sent each candidate a list of 33 questions asking, among other things, how they would rate Caton’s performance as city manager on a scale of one to 10.

The nine candidates are also asked how they feel about the role of the city manager, whether the city manager’s staff should be changed, whether they have any financial ties to Police Chief D. Clayton Mayes, and whether they would consider making commission appointments based on a list of residents the coalition has endorsed.

A furious Caton promptly fired off a letter accusing the newly formed coalition of “seeking political influence” and of trying to undermine the city charter.

“If you want to run City Hall through your political influence, why not be honest about it and seek a charter revision to a strong mayor form of government with no city manager,” Caton wrote. “That way you . . . can directly run things.”

Robert Grandolfo, a Downey police sergeant who is chairman of the coalition, said he was disappointed and surprised by Caton’s reaction. But he said the association decided to get involved because Caton and the City Council had ignored the growing rift between Mayes and his officers.

“We’ve had a pretty rocky time at the Police Department . . . and quite frankly, if the city had been responsive to us from the outset we wouldn’t be in the position we are in,” Grandolfo said. “But to say that we want to influence the election is not totally true. We just want to bring these issues up for the public to decide.”

Recall drive--The president of the Compton College Board of Trustees has been targeted for recall by supporters of the college president. The supporters of college President Warren A. Washington were outraged at Emily Hart-Holifield’s vote late last year not to extend the administrator’s contract for three years.

Hart-Holifield, who favored a one-year contract extension for Washington instead of the traditional three, was notified at the board’s Tuesday night meeting that signatures supporting her recall were being collected.

Lorraine Cervantes, a longtime Compton activist who is leading the recall effort, said Hart-Holifield’s support of a one-year contract for Washington is the main reason for the petition. She depicted Hart-Holifield as a power-hungry tyrant who has created racial tension between blacks and Latinos at the college.

Hart-Holifield, who was elected to the board in 1975, said the one-year contract was a “tremendous, wonderful, exciting” decision, and accused recall leaders of exploiting the racial issue. “What they want to do is use the recall so they can win a seat,” Hart-Holifield said. “What it all boils down to is the unfortunate situation that they are trying to stir up blacks versus Latinos.”

Signs of trouble--With less than three weeks to go before the Bellflower City Council election, the city is cracking down on political signs that violate a city ordinance. And Councilman Joseph E. Cvetko, the candidate who described the ordinance as too restrictive and wanted it suspended, is among the first to feel the sting of city enforcers.

Bellflower law requires that signs be at least four feet back from the intersection at residential corners. Cvetko said he wanted to suspend the ordinance until after the election. But when he brought it up at a recent meeting, a disgusted Councilman Randy Bomgaars walked out and Councilman Bob Stone, who is not a candidate, said Cvetko was “out of line” for raising the issue in the middle of the campaign. Cvetko’s motion failed. Two days later, the city, responding to a resident’s complaint, found that signs belonging to Cvetko and candidate Ruth Gilson were in violation of the ordinance.

An angry Cvetko said the complaint was made by a Stone crony to “target” him. Responded Stone: “I’m not going to get into this game with this man.”

Say it with flowers--Huntington Park Councilman Thomas E. Jackson, facing a tough battle to keep his seat after 24 years, is asking residents to remember him at the polls by planting a few flowers.

The flower shop owner last week mailed about 5,000 packets of forget-me-not seeds to registered voters. On the back of each packet, voters are asked to “Keep Huntington Park Growing” by electing Jackson to his seventh term April 14.