54th Assembly District Hopefuls Trade Derogatory Labels

Forget about the recession, bad checks, and health and welfare issues. In the 54th Assembly District race, words like Nazi and communist are being exchanged between a fringe candidate and a local writer.

In the April-May issue of the Long Beach Citizens Involved newspaper, guest writer Michael Novick reported that American Independent candidate Joseph Fields has long associated with white supremacist groups.

Novick reported that Fields has worn a swastika in public, expressed his admiration for Hitler at a conference for the Institute for Historical Review--an organization that contends the Holocaust never happened--and expressed “Nazi beliefs” in a series of articles for the Los Angeles Harbor College newspaper. Novick wrote that in a taped interview in 1986, Fields referred to Jews as “parasites.”

An angry Fields blasted Novick, saying the article was a “smear job by a communist agitator.”

Fields, 28, who calls himself a “full-time political activist,” denied that he is a white supremacist. He acknowledged, however, that he made derogatory comments about the Jewish people in a taped interview and wore swastika patches and pins. “This stuff with the swastika pin, well, I had a chip on my shoulder,” Fields said. “I was young and angry about my treatment at Harbor College. It tended to sour me toward certain groups of people.”

Fields said he was threatened by Jewish groups and was barred from writing for the Harbor College newspaper after he wrote an article about the June, 1981, firebombing of the Torrance headquarters of the Institute for Historical Review. “I don’t apologize for anything I did at Harbor College,” Fields said.

Fields is running in the 54th District on an “America First” platform for the right-wing nationalist American Independent Party and said that he has “changed quite a bit” over the last few years. He refused, however, to discuss whether or not he adheres to the belief that the Holocaust never happened. “This campaign has nothing to do with that, but I will say that everyone has a right to question history,” Fields said.

Ill candidate--One of the 13 candidates in the April 14 Bell Gardens City Council election was hospitalized last week after he complained of constant body aches, and is halting his campaign.

Oliver Aubrey, 70, is in critical condition and is undergoing tests at Bellflower Hospital in Bellflower to find out what is wrong, according to his wife, Marguerite. “He hasn’t been feeling well for some time,” she said.

Oliver Aubrey is a Jack-of-all-trades who says he has been an actor, lawyer and corporate head, among several other professions. Well-known for playing Santa Claus, Aubrey was a vocal critic of the old council.

His condition grew worse “at the time he was going to get started (on the campaign),” Marguerite Aubrey said. “If he still gets a few votes, well, so be it.”

South Gate charges--In the race for South Gate City Council, Mayor Gregory Slaughter and challenger Albert Robles are exchanging charges about why Robles went on unpaid leave from his job as a field deputy for Assemblywoman Marguerite Archie-Hudson, whose district includes South Gate.

Slaughter contends that Robles was politicking on state time last August when he campaigned against the unsuccessful city ballot measure for a card casino. Archie-Hudson put Robles on leave, Slaughter said, after he wrote her requesting information about Robles’ work hours and schedule.

Robles claims that he opposed the casino “solely as a resident of South Gate and never as a legislative deputy” and accused Slaughter of conducting an investigation at taxpayers’ expense when there was no wrongdoing in the first place.

“He was working almost full time on the ‘no’ committee,” Slaughter charged, adding that the records made it “evident that he was campaigning while being paid by the state.”

Robles said Archie-Hudson spent a day looking into the charges. “She was satisfied I was not in conflict,” he said, explaining that he went voluntary leave Nov. 1 to pursue a council seat. He accused Slaughter of “digging for mud.”

Archie-Hudson, who has endorsed Robles, could not be reached for comment. But her Los Angeles aide, Karen Earl, agreed with Robles. “It was a mutual decision, initiated by Albert, because he was going to run for office,” she said.