ELECTIONS CITY COUNCIL : Candidate Strife Stems From Slate Backed by Navejas

Although her name won’t appear on Tuesday’s ballot in Hawaiian Gardens, City Councilwoman Kathleen Navejas has become a lightning rod in the spirited campaign being waged by 12 contenders for three council seats.

She is accused of backing three “puppet” candidates to solidify her control of the council. There are contentions that she and her allies want to perpetuate Hawaiian Gardens as a low-income rental community they can manipulate as a political base.

Candidates backed by Navejas talk about the need for harmony and hard work on the council, but her foes accuse Navejas of fomenting the existing strife by turning against colleagues who disagree with her.

“You do what she says or she tries to destroy you,” said challenger Donald E. Schultze, 58, a building contractor and former councilman who was once allied with Navejas. “It only lasted a few months,” said Schultze, who was defeated for reelection two years ago.

First elected in 1986, Navejas said her energy and assertiveness have made her controversial. “I was always the type of person who got involved and made changes,” she said. “For every change you create, some love you and some hate you.”

She said her rocky relationships with some current and former council members are their fault, not hers. “They can’t agree to disagree. They take it personally,” she said.

Two incumbents are seeking reelection, but a third council member, Mayor Rosalie Sher, decided not to run again.

Navejas has endorsed appointed Councilwoman Esther E. Flores, 42, and challengers Robert Canada, 49, a medical records analyst, and Robert Prida, 52, an ABC Unified School District custodian. She said the three are hard-working and have been involved in the community.

But Alan Calcote, 37, a math and science teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District, charged that the trio “will be puppets of Navejas” if elected. He is running with incumbent Councilwoman H.M. (Lennie) Wagner.

Canada denied that anyone will be a puppet. He said the three candidates and Navejas are old friends who share the same views on city issues, but they sometimes disagree. “I look at the council, I don’t like what I see, and I’m hoping I can make a difference,” he said.

Calcote said Hawaiian Gardens is “at a crossroads” and faces a choice between continuing as a blighted city of renters or cleaning itself up and attracting professionals wishing to buy affordable homes.

He contends that the Navejas forces want to keep the city as it is because they have built a power base through registering renters to vote. Calcote also asserts that Canada and Prida have campaigned at a food bank serving poor families while working there as volunteers. Calcote said he was denied permission to pass out literature at the food bank.

Both Canada and Navejas denied that politicking has occurred at the food bank. “I handed out no flyers; none of our political stuff is ever brought there,” Canada said.

Responding to contentions that she does not want the city to change, Navejas said that Hawaiian Gardens, a square mile with a population of 13,639, always has been a poor community. “It was that way long before I ever got involved in the community. If he (Calcote) can come up with a way of changing the demographics in the city, I’d like to see him do it,” she said.

Navejas called voter registration a way of extending democracy, not building political power. “People can’t vote unless they’re registered to vote,” she said. “How do you register people to vote? You walk the streets, knock on doors and ask them to vote. Many of us are deputy registrars (of voters).”

Other council candidates on the ballot are interior designer Randal Black, 29; Lupe Cabrera, 58, a property manager and former councilman; homemaker Mary Corrales, 43; Valerie Gaxiola, 48, a homemaker; paint store owner Virginia Lee, 69, and Grant Winford, 38, a mechanic.