LOCAL ELECTIONS / BELLFLOWER : Voters Overwhelmingly Reject Card Club Proposal

Capping a bitter, high-cost campaign, Bellflower voters on Tuesday rejected a proposed 24-hour card casino by a 2-1 margin.

Proponents, including the backers of the proposed Cougar Club, spent more than $400,000 in a failed attempt to sell voters on the casino on the grounds that it would bring in badly needed revenues to the cash-starved city.

Voters rejected the measure 3,340 to 6,677.

Opponents, including officials of a card club in a neighboring city, portrayed the proposed facility as a magnet for crime.

Councilwoman Ruth Gilson, a leading opponent, said, “I think moral conviction and truth won tonight.”

Had it been approved, the club would have faced a tough legal battle.

In a lawsuit filed Monday seeking to invalidate the election, it was alleged that three councilmen had financial ties to Cougar Club partners and voted improperly when they put the issue on the ballot.

According to the lawsuit, Mayor Bob Stone, Mayor Pro Tem Ken Cleveland and Councilman Bill Pendelton should not have participated in the council’s 3-2 vote last May.

The three denied that a conflict of interest existed. But a spokeswoman for the Fair Political Practices Commission said she advised Cleveland last May to abstain from voting because he had recently been business partners with Cougar Club partner Virginia Boggs.

The suit seeks to overturn the council’s vote and the election.

According to the FPPC, Los Angeles County prosecutors also are investigating the conflict-of-interest allegations.

Pro-casino forces have maintained that their opponents are controlled by a nearby card club. A campaign piece, mailed last weekend by Responsible Citizens of Bellflower/Yes on A, depicted Gilson and Councilman John Ansdell--both casino opponents--as puppets of the Bicycle Club card casino in Bell Gardens.

The Bicycle Club and its general manager, George Hardie, have donated about $72,000 to anti-casino campaigns in Bellflower and other cities, according to county campaign disclosure statements. The money went mostly for glossy brochures claiming that casinos attract drugs, prostitution and gangs.

Opponents had spent almost $72,000 by July 29, city documents show, less than one fourth of what the proponents spent.

EDITION-TIME ELECTION RETURNS

Counting of late and absentee ballots could alter the outcome.

BELLFLOWER

Proposition A

Should a 24-hour card club be allowed to operate in the city?

19 of 19 Precincts Reporting

MEASURE VOTE % Yes 3,340 34% No 6,677 66%