Candidate Turns Up Heat Against Mayor

The April 14 municipal election stopped being a quiet affair last week, when the candidate challenging Mayor Terry Dipple accused him of using his business connections to bring developers into the city.

Carla Damrill, an insurance broker who describes herself as an environmental activist, charged that three years ago, Dipple’s ex-business partner, Brian Barbuto, sought to build 41 single-family homes near Cinnamon Creek.

“His working with developers is an inherent conflict of interest,” Damrill said.

Dipple, the owner of a San Dimas real estate and investment company, retorted that he abstained from voting on the matter and said he does not conduct business deals in the city or own any property there except his house.

“I want you to raise your hand and pledge that you’re not going to run a negative campaign,” Dipple told Damrill during his closing remarks at a candidate forum Tuesday night.

“No, Terry--You started it, you finish it!” Damrill shot back.

Before Tuesday’s confrontation, the two mayoral and four council candidates had focused primarily on improving law enforcement and the laws concerning growth limits.

Damrill, 52, senior vice president of an international insurance brokerage, has been a commercial insurance broker 33 years. In 1988, to scale down a proposed development, she founded Save Our Rural Environment, and initiated a proposal for a city ordinance that restricts tree cutting. She said she does not oppose development, because “without development a city dies,” but is against large projects that encroach on open space.

She also supports quarterly town hall meetings. Damrill said she wants to involve residents in greater efforts to combat graffiti and gang activity.

Dipple, 39, began his political career at 17, losing two campaigns for City Council before winning his first of three terms in 1976. He was elected mayor in 1988 and is seeking his third term. He says that he supports quality growth and that his real estate expertise is an advantage for the city. In response to another charge by Damrill, he denied that he is seeking a seat on the County Board of Supervisors, saying that for now, he prefers local politics and spending time with his family.

Dipple, who has a law degree from the University of La Verne, said he is running on his experience in balancing the city’s budget and maintaining ample financial reserves. Dipple, who supports increased law enforcement and preservation of open space, vowed to maintain his opposition to commercial development in Bonelli Regional County Park.

He is the council’s representative to the city’s Law Enforcement Committee and the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts and is vice president of the San Gabriel Valley Assn. of Cities.

In the City Council race, incumbents Denis Bertone and Curtis Morris are facing challenges by Don Davis and Alex Villanueva.

* Bertone, 50, who is seeking a second term, said: “I’m not here to build mini-malls and sell real estate. I’m here to help people.”

A high school counselor for the Los Angeles Unified School District, he is founder and co-chairman of the Coalition to Preserve Bonelli Park, which has filed three lawsuits against Los Angeles County to prevent commercial development.

Bertone is the council’s representative on the Senior Citizens Commission and supports historical preservation. He has a master’s degree in political science from Cal State Los Angeles.

Bertone proposes holding city forums to get ideas on how to spend law enforcement funds.

* Villanueva, 29, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy assigned to the East Los Angeles station, is a lieutenant in the National Guard and a graduate of the California Military Academy in San Luis Obispo. Villanueva, a member of the Sierra Club and the state National Guard Assn., supports expanding law enforcement to make the community gang-free.

“The gang-related shootings at The Plaza shopping mall in West Covina . . . and at the Chaparral Lanes in San Dimas . . . should serve as a wake-up call to the challenges that lie ahead,” he said.

He is against expansion of the Raging Waters theme park and advocates maintaining historic structures, such as the San Dimas mansion. He also promises to limit himself to two council terms.

* Morris, who is seeking a third term, said term limitations aren’t necessary in a small city government because council members are easily accessible.

A graduate of Loyola University Law School and a former naval officer, he is a Pomona attorney. He said he approves controlled spending that guarantees money for municipal services such as law enforcement, which receives about 40% of the city’s $8-million General Fund expenditures.

Morris has lived in San Dimas since 1943. He is chairman of the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center and serves on the board of the Pomona chapter of the American Red Cross and the San Dimas Festival of Western Arts.

* Davis, 62, is touting himself as a fiscal conservative. He is a city planning commissioner and a member of the city’s development plan review board, historical society and Senior Citizens Club.

In 1988, after retiring from a 30-year career in aviation safety, Davis has been owner and manager of Via Verde Properties Inc., a San Dimas real estate office.

He reactivated the Chamber of Commerce’s “Shop in San Dimas” program. Morris said he favors a strong business community and free enterprise, youth and senior citizen programs, and a clean environment.