Charges Fly in Rancorous Judicial Contest

A rancorous campaign for Downey Municipal Court judge has swerved from the genial path most judicial elections follow because one candidate is digging into his opponent’s past, clamoring about an attempted payoff not to run and trying to spark a debate over family values.

The contest pits Roy L. Paul, a veteran civic leader, against Benjamin R. Margolis, a political newcomer who has shown he is not afraid to cast stones.

Paul, a court commissioner and former Bell Gardens City Council member, accuses his opponent of probing into his personal life and spreading tales about him having multiple girlfriends.

Margolis, a pharmacist and part-time attorney, concedes only that his campaign workers questioned Paul’s ex-girlfriend and insists that he is the victim of underhanded tactics, including an attempted payoff to bow out of the race.

Margolis’ attacks have dismayed political observers accustomed to more dignified judicial races, including the retiring judge whom Margolis and Paul hope to replace.

“Very seldom are there attacks like this,” said Judge Richard C. Cumming, who supports Paul. “Judicial races tend to be of higher elevation.”

The winner of the June 7 election will represent the judicial district serving Downey, Norwalk and La Mirada, and will preside, for the most part, over minor civil cases and misdemeanor prosecutions for drug violations and petty thefts. It is one of the lower rungs in the judicial order, but the job does carry prestige, a $90,680 annual salary and a six-year term.

*

Margolis and Paul both promise to be tough on drunk drivers, drug offenders and other troublemakers who enter their courtrooms. They have spent more than $65,000 apiece on flyers, cable television commercials, newspaper advertisements and political consultants to get their messages across.

Margolis, 49, is a self-proclaimed political outsider who says he refuses to accept political contributions, including an alleged $10,000 donation to bow out of the race and pursue another office. Margolis said the offer came during a recent fund-raiser for a local hospital, but he cannot substantiate the allegation.

A 25-year resident of Pacific Palisades, he became the chief pharmacist at Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center in Downey in October. He also operates a part-time law practice out of his home.

Paul, 44, campaigns hard on local ties. His mother was the first mayor of Bell Gardens in 1961, and he took over her law practice when she died in 1978. Paul served on the Bell Gardens City Council from 1980 to 1984, and on the Downey City Council from 1986 to 1991. He resigned from the council when he was appointed to the commissioner’s post in Downey Municipal Court, where he tries accused traffic scofflaws and the like.

Paul questioned his opponent’s qualifications because Margolis is a full-time pharmacist and lives outside the area.

Margolis points out that judges do not have to live where they serve. He suggests that his family values are superior to those of Paul, who has no children and whose 18-month marriage was annulled in 1974.

In a campaign flyer, Margolis describes himself as a married man of 22 years with an 11-year-old son. Concerning Paul’s family values, the flyer offers no specific details but advises: “You be the judge!”

“If you have a family, you have stability; you’re not going to do something erratic,” Margolis said in an interview.

*

Although Margolis said he has no interest in Paul’s personal life, he admitted that his campaign workers approached Gracie Gonzalez, Paul’s ex-girlfriend.

Gonzalez, a personal trainer who competes in national fitness competitions, said she was called once by Ruth Merchey, Margolis’ campaign manager, and four times by campaign volunteer Lucille Saunders.

Gonzalez said that they “wanted dirty laundry” and that Saunders alluded to a reward. “She said it would be worth my time,” Gonzalez said. “I said, ‘I don’t have anything negative to say.’ ”

In separate interviews, Saunders and Merchey denied offering Gonzalez money. “The word was that she had something on him,” Saunders said. “We wanted to get as much information as we could.” Margolis said he only wanted to find out whether Paul had ever misused city funds as a city councilman.

Paul said the Margolis campaign “is trying to use the fact that I’m single as a weapon and insinuating that something is wrong.”

In a debate Thursday, Paul complained that Margolis supporters were taking pictures of people entering his house. The existence of one such picture has been confirmed. It reportedly shows a woman entering Paul’s house with a key. The photo was taken by Paul’s neighbor, a Margolis supporter.

Merchey, Margolis’ campaign manager, says the woman in the photograph is someone Paul continues to see even while involved in another relationship.

Paul identifies the woman as his housekeeper.

Margolis also has publicly suggested that Paul “might be guilty of a misdemeanor” because he continues to advertise his law practice in the phone book even though he is a court commissioner. Paul said that his law practice is defunct and that the purpose of the advertisement is to direct former clients to a new attorney who now holds their wills and other documents. The ad is legal, Paul said, because the new attorney pays for it.

The series of scuffles has thrust the campaign into the local spotlight.

“There’s more lawn signs and heat about it than about the City Council campaign,” said Downey Councilwoman Joyce L. Lawrence.