REDONDO BEACH : Officials Brushing Off Bias Claims, Suit Says

A city employee has sued Redondo Beach, city Treasurer Alice E. DeLong and former Councilman Stevan Colin, claiming officials have been indifferent to discrimination he has faced.

Eugene Cornelius Jr., a senior administrator for the city, filed the lawsuit May 11 alleging that DeLong struck him on the back of the head, that Colin slandered him and that other city officials have ignored his complaints.

Cornelius says DeLong struck him last Oct. 3 when he would not provide her with details of a worker’s compensation claim filed by an employee, details he says are supposed to remain confidential.

“I was trying to get an understanding of what she wanted and, in the course of the discussion, she turned around and smacked me in the head,” he said.

Cornelius says a co-worker, Jim Burke, witnessed the event. Burke was not available for comment.

“The council promised to do an investigation, but as of today, seven months later, nothing has been done,” Cornelius said.

DeLong denies that the incident occurred.

“The person who seemed to have witnessed it said I ‘swished’ him, but I certainly didn’t hit Eugene Cornelius,” she said.

Cornelius says he included Colin in the suit because the councilman belittled his claim about the alleged hitting incident during a council meeting. He claims that Colin had made derogatory remarks about him since Cornelius began working for the city in April, 1993.

Colin disputes the accusations.

Cornelius says he filed the suit because the city has not taken his claims seriously.

“If Alice felt confident enough to hit someone at my level, I can only imagine what she’s been doing to other people for 19 years,” Cornelius said.