‘Arrogance’ at Issue in Bid to Recall 3 on Council : Hermosa Beach: Critics denounce the attitudes of Councilmen Robert Benz and Sam Edgerton and Mayor Robert Essertier. The three blame developers.

Three outspoken Hermosa Beach City Council members could be tossed out of office--just for having bad attitudes.

To be sure, critics say there are other reasons why Councilmen Robert Benz and Sam Edgerton and Mayor Robert Essertier should be recalled, such as their votes to restrict parking in the densely populated town.

But those organizing the recall effort say the three council members are simply too arrogant and insensitive to continue serving the city.

That would help explain why two other council members who voted with the majority on a hotly debated parking issue were able to escape the wrath of recall advocates.

Supporters of a council shake-up say they forgave Kathleen Midstokke and Albert Wiemans for voting to restrict parking on the city’s greenbelt because they are usually receptive to the public. Not so for the other three, and that is why they are targeted for removal.

“It’s mostly attitude with these guys,” said Barbara Sabo, who described herself as ad hoc chair of the Hermosa Beach Recall Committee. “If you’re looking to identify an individual issue, I’m hard-pressed to do that. . . . It’s just that this council has exhibited, except for Midstokke and Wiemans, a continual lack of regard for the citizenry.”

In papers filed with the city clerk’s office, recall advocates accused Essertier of having a “cavalier attitude” toward the public. “He has also demonstrated a total inability to maintain order at the council meetings, making a mockery of Hermosa government and reflecting poorly on the city as a whole,” the recall papers said.

Benz, organizer of an annual Fourth of July Iron Man competition that requires participants to run a mile on the beach, paddle a mile on a surfboard and then drink a six-pack of beer, is said to have a “disrespect for the law.” He is also taken to task for being insulting toward his critics.

“His wild accusations, ridiculous comments, foul language and conduct are unbecoming an elected official,” the notice of intention to circulate a recall petition said.

Edgerton, meanwhile, is accused of “turning his back on citizen speakers,” both by “turning his chair” at council meetings and by “ignoring public input.” His use of “belittling group labels for those citizens who disagree with his viewpoint is intolerable,” the notice said.

Benz, Edgerton and Essertier don’t deny that they are occasionally abrasive during City Council meetings. But they say they are no worse than members of previous councils.

“There’s no doubt that sometimes I’m wild and, yeah, I like to hoot it up just like anyone else,” Benz said. But he added that he found it “extremely arrogant that some people would have me act as they want me to act. Who do they think they are? My legal guardian? Should I get a note from them the next time I go to the bathroom?”

Benz and the others under attack accuse recall advocates of being dishonest about the issues motivating their campaign.

“It’s a classic confrontation between developers and the residents,” Edgerton said. “I’m very much the slow-growth candidate. Always have been and always will be. . . . This is what the fight is over: people who want to develop their properties without any restrictions” and a council that wants to maintain neighborhood standards.

Essertier agreed.

“I think (the recall campaign) is about two things--the loss of power from the old guard . . . and that the (three of us) being recalled are all in favor of restraining condo development,” he said.

At least two of the council members believe the recall is being spearheaded by Gerald W. Compton, an architect and developer who has built dozens of projects in town and who describes himself as a “property-rights advocate.”

“This is called ‘Gerry Compton’s recall’ on the street,” Essertier said. “For a long time, he had a lot of control. His projects always went sailing through. But now they don’t.”

Compton, who counts himself among recall advocates but denies being a campaign organizer, takes issue with allegations that he and other supporters of the shake-up are motivated by greed.

“This is a smoke screen,” he said.

Recall attempts have been a staple of political life in Hermosa Beach for years. In the late 1950s, three council members--Eddy Edwards, Bill Edgerer and Derk McCardy--were recalled for refusing to allow the city manager to do his job, said Hermosa Beach historian Patricia Gazin, who became the first female council member.

Since then, Hermosa Beach voters have tried it several other times, most recently in 1988. That campaign, which sought to recall council members Jim Rosenberger, Etta Simpson, Roger Creighton and Chuck Sheldon, was unsuccessful. So were the recalls attempted the year before and the year before that.

“Hermosa is kind of a weird town,” said retired learning therapist Wilma Burt, who has lived there for 38 years. “We have a lot of wealthy people, a lot of hippies and renters who come and go. There has always been one little group or so that has tried to mastermind the town at times and a large silent majority who, when it comes to voting, do their own thing.”

City officials are still reviewing copies of the current recall petition to make sure the format conforms with state and local election codes, said Deputy City Clerk Naoma Valdes.

Once the petition is approved, recall advocates have 120 days to collect signatures from 20% of the city’s registered voters, which at last count equaled about 13,500.

If the petition is found to be valid, the City Council is required to call an election no more than 125 days later. A simple majority of the voters must vote yes for the recall to pass. If voters decide they want to vote for replacements for the recalled council members, another election must be scheduled.

The two elections would cost the city about $70,000, Valdes said.

To longtime resident Burt, the cost is too high.

“I think the recall is a waste of money,” she said. “We do not have the money for petty politics. If we don’t like them at the end of the term, they’re easily replaced.”

But Sabo and others who support the recall say they just can’t wait that long. Although Essertier’s term expires next year, Benz and Edgerton will remain on the council through 1995.

The three council members “are trying to blame this on developers, which makes me laugh,” Sabo said. “If they honestly think developers are behind this, than they are out in no man’s land. That’s just another reason (for us to say) they are not listening to us.”