ELECTIONS : Council and School Races Face Runoffs : Inglewood: Ervin Thomas and Councilman Hardeman will be on the ballot. Board President Hill Hale and a newcomer will compete.

In what is becoming a perennial rematch in Inglewood politics, a veteran city councilman and his longtime political foe will square off June 6, and the school board president also faces a runoff after placing second in Tuesday’s election.

City Councilman Garland L. Hardeman and Ervin (Tony) Thomas are battling for the council seat in District 4 for the fourth time.

School Board President Lois Hill Hale will run against newcomer Gloria Dean Gray, who came in first in the vote count.

Two other incumbents, Councilman Jose Fernandez and school board member Loystene Irvin, easily held onto their positions. Incumbent Hermanita Harris defeated Nzinga Owolo for city clerk. City Treasurer Wanda Brown, who ran unopposed, returns for her third term.

Under city and school district guidelines, if no candidate garners more than 50%, a runoff between the top two vote-getters is held.

Of the city’s 41,195 registered voters, about 3,400, or 8%, cast ballots for the citywide clerk and treasurer offices and school district seats. The vote count was only slightly higher in council districts, where 9% turned out in District 4 and 12% in District 3.

“This is the failing of democracy,” Fernandez said Tuesday night as returns were being tabulated at City Hall.

Hardeman, 38, who has served as District 4 representative for six years, fought three challengers in a bid to retain his seat. The challengers helped split the vote and force a runoff.

His opponents charged that Hardeman has done nothing for the district since he took office in 1989. Hardeman countered that he has lobbied for--and won--federal funds to help clean one of the toughest, crime-ridden neighborhoods in the city.

Hardeman and Thomas began their rivalry in 1987. Thomas, 53, a marketing analyst for a soft drink company, beat Hardeman in that race, but the election was annulled after a judge ruled that Thomas’ supporters intimidated voters and that absentee ballots showed irregularities. In 1989, during a court-ordered special election, Hardeman knocked Thomas out of office with a decisive 70% of the vote. Thomas also tried to unseat Hardeman in 1991.

Hardeman says he intends to make ballot-tampering an issue in the runoff and is confident he will win.

“The issue of character will absolutely come up,” Hardeman said. “Thomas has no qualifications to be a city councilman.”

Thomas denied any wrongdoing in the ’87 election and says the fact that Hardeman had three challengers in the race was a sign that he has been ineffective on the council.

Other challengers in the race were former Councilman Virgle P. Benson and Inglewood school district administrator Almeda Thomas (no relation).

In the race for the District 3 City Council seat, Fernandez survived what he calls one of the “dirtiest campaigns he’s ever seen” to return for a third term.

The eight-year council veteran retained his seat in the heavily Latino district by fighting off bitter attacks by frequent council critic Michael Stevens, a local media marketing consultant, and a smaller, grass-roots campaign by attorney Mary Bueno-Flores.

Stevens, 36, had hoped to unseat the incumbent by sending out eleventh-hour mailers alleging Fernandez helped give illegal immigrants public funds for housing and jobs at the year-old Hollywood Park Casino.

Fernandez, Inglewood Neighborhood Housing Services Executive Director Martina Guilfoil and Hollywood Park Casino officials have angrily denied the claims.

Stevens also ran what he calls a “stealth” campaign, refusing to file or disclose his campaign contribution reports before the election.

According to a spokeswoman from the Fair Political Practices Commission, the tactic violates state law. City Clerk Harris said Stevens has been fined $100 for failing to submit the disclosure forms.

School Board

In the Inglewood Unified School District race, Hill Hale, like Hardeman, faced several challengers. Gray grabbed 43% of the vote, and Hill Hale came in second with 39%.

Also running were Elizabeth A. Khoury, Eveline Ross and Nathaniel A. Harrison.

The political battle between the top two vote-getters has become personal, with Hill Hale calling Gray a “puppet for city officials who want to take over the district” and Gray arguing that Hill Hale “rules the board by intimidation.”

Hill Hale, an eight-year veteran of the school board vying for her third term, said she was surprised that Gray took the most votes in the election.

“I thought we had a more informed populace that would see through all the lies,” she said, adding that she was disturbed by the low voter turnout. “I guess we have to get a stronger, clearer message out.”

Gray, a county Health Department employee and Democratic Party activist whose two children graduated from the district, said she blames the district’s troubles on decisions made by the board during Hill Hale’s tenure.

Over the past several years, the 15,000-student district has been plagued by problems ranging from violations of state bilingual education laws to fiscal mismanagement so severe that a state-appointed fiscal adviser was installed to watch over all of the board’s financial decisions.

Her first-place finish, Gray said, sends a clear signal that voters want Hill Hale out of office.

“The fact that the district has been on the brink of bankruptcy for the last 18 months,” Gray said, “implies that the leadership on the board has not managed money well.”

But Hill Hale defended her tenure on the board, taking credit for bringing in Superintendent McKinley Nash last year. Since Nash took over, state officials have said that the district no longer needs a fiscal adviser and is well on its way to complying with state bilingual education guidelines.

In the race for school board seat No. 5, board member Loystene Irvin handily defeated first-time campaigner James E. Khoury, 74, father of unsuccessful Hill Hale challenger Elizabeth A. Khoury. The elder Khoury said he decided to run because he was tired of the board’s inability to clean up the school campuses.

Times correspondent James Benning contributed to this story.

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FINAL ELECTION RETURNS

In each race, if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the two top finishers meet in a runoff.

CITY COUNCIL District 3 9 of 9 precincts reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Jose Fernandez* 600 63.9 Michael Stevens 173 18.4 Mary H. Bueno-Flores 166 17.7

District 4 4 of 4 precincts reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Garland Hardeman* 259 44.6 Ervin (Tony) Thomas 160 27.5 Virgle P. Benson 100 17.2 Almeda Thomas 62 10.7

CITY CLERK 35 of 35 precincts reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Hermanita Harris* 2,963 85.3 Nzinga Owolo 510 14.7

SCHOOL BOARD Seat 4 35 of 35 precincts reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Gloria Dean Gray 1,557 43.0 Lois Hill Hale* 1,409 39.0 Elizabeth A. Khoury 315 8.7 Eveline Ross 224 6.2 Nathaniel A. Harrison Jr. 111 3.1

Seat 5 35 of 35 precincts reporting

CANDIDATE VOTE % Loystene L. Irvin* 2,670 75.3 James E. Khoury 875 24.7

*Incumbent