Uneasy Silence in Smoking Wars

It’s quiet on the smoking front. Too quiet, Long Beach Councilman Evan Anderson Braude fears.

A tough new set of smoking restrictions for Long Beach will appear on Tuesday’s ballot as Proposition K, but without the pitched battle residents have come to expect on smoking issues. No phone banks, no direct mail from groups supported by the tobacco industry.

“It doesn’t mean that (mailings) won’t come,” said Braude, who introduced the no-smoking ordinance. “It could be that they’re . . . holding back until right before the elections.”

Braude’s concern over possible opposition is based on a history of smoking wars in Long Beach.

The council backed down from a 1991 ordinance to ban smoking in restaurants after a petition drive financed by the tobacco industry collected enough signatures to put the issue on a citywide ballot.

In July, the council passed an ordinance to outlaw smoking in all businesses used by the public, except patio restaurants and bars, where up to a third of the seating could be set aside for smokers. But within 30 days, an organization calling itself the Long Beach Business & Convention Coalition spent about $65,000 on a petition drive to overturn the ordinance. The coalition received funding from R.J. Reynolds, Philip Morris and other tobacco interests, according to a campaign disclosure statement. So council members--all nonsmokers--decided to put the issue before voters Tuesday. Then, Braude said, they waited for a fight.

But the tobacco-backed coalition that forced Proposition K onto the ballot dissolved their organization. Those opposing tough smoking bans appear to have taken their fight to the state level.

Meanwhile, Carl Cowan, co-founder of Citizens for a Healthy Long Beach, said his organization will mail a “Yes on K” flyer to 11,000 households before Tuesday’s polling. The group made two other mailings in recent weeks.

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NO DEAL: One of the hottest questions thrown around Pico Rivera candidate forums is whether a casino proposal, narrowly defeated by voters last year, will reappear after Tuesday’s City Council election.

Several of nine challengers competing for three City Council seats have emphasized that they oppose a card club. Incumbents John G. Chavez and Richard L. Mercado Sr. endorsed the casino proposal in June. Mayor Alberto Natividad, who also supported the card club, is not seeking reelection. The casino measure lost by 209 votes.

But casino promoter Claude L. Booker said he has no interest in reviving the plan to build a $35-million card club here. “It’s a dead issue,” said Booker, who has moved to Arizona.

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LATE NIGHT: Six of the so-called “Long Beach 7” mayoral candidates were on cable TV this week, finally receiving the equal time they demanded after being excluded from an earlier televised forum.

The only problem is that the forum featuring these lesser-funded candidates has been scheduled for some time slots that are meant for insomniacs, one candidate complained.

The first forum, sponsored by the Junior Chamber of Commerce, only included the six mayoral front-runners who have gathered the most campaign funds: Mayor Ernie Kell, Vice Mayor Jeffrey A. Kellogg, Councilman Ray Grabinski, Frank Colonna, Beverly O’Neill and Donald Westerland. A tape of their forum was replayed on the local cable channel 18 times--all in the afternoon or prime time--after airing Feb. 20.

Excluded candidates, who dubbed themselves the Long Beach 7, finally had their forum taped Friday. But to give them the same number of time slots before Election Day, some repeats had to air about 1 a.m. “This still isn’t fair,” said mayoral candidate Dan Rosenberg, who appears on the second forum, along with challengers Ronnie Barnes, Lee Chauser, Thomas (Ski) Demski, Terry Stidom and El Nora Willingham. Candidate G. Juan Johnson refused to appear. He has sued the cable company, charging that he was denied equal access.

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PAY-BACK: Four years ago, Santa Fe Springs Councilmen Ronald S. Kernes and Al Fuentes won their seats easily. Now Kernes, a 16-year council veteran, and Fuentes, who is seeking a second term, are fighting city employees and firefighters to keep their council jobs.

The political battle erupted, firefighters say, over an engine company. The council decided last year to eliminate one of the four fire engine companies. Firefighters say the move exposed the city to threats of runaway fires in oil and manufacturing plants.

So the Santa Fe Springs Firemen’s Assn. and the City Employees Assn. decided to support challengers Hazel Fields and George Minnehan. The groups have given $3,370 each to Fields and Minnehan and volunteers have blanketed doorsteps with leaflets supporting the challengers.

The effort has angered Kernes, who has said in public forums that firefighters and city employees targeted him because they went without a pay raise last year. “I guess it’s pay-back time,” Kernes said.

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LIQUID ASSETS: A little-discussed measure on Tuesday’s ballot in Long Beach would grant the city Water Department new powers to buy land, even if the property is not used for water and sewer operations.

Proposition L was originally intended to allow the Water Department to move a city garden off its land and lease the site to a commercial grower, said Robert W. Cole, the department’s general manager. The department’s charter has to be changed to allow officials to spend money on the move, which was not strictly water-related. The changes, which require voters’ approval, include new land-buying powers not requested by department officials, Cole said.

Deputy City Atty. Donna Gwin), who helped prepare the charter amendment, said the new land-buying powers were included at the request of City Council members who believe the Water Department could assist the city in future land purchases.

Times staff writer Jill Gottesman and community correspondents Psyche Pascual and John Pope contributed to this report.