He’s La Puente’s Rebel With a Cause

When Edward Rodarte became one of the nation’s youngest mayors last year, his La Puente City Council colleagues expected him to respect his elders and follow their lead.

Instead, the brash 25-year-old newcomer, who lives at his parents’ house, embarked on a crusade for change, ignoring the adage “you can’t fight City Hall.”

He tried--and he lost.

The council majority last week stripped Rodarte of his mayoral title, following allegations that he coerced a city employee to proofread a brochure for his property cleanup business.

But having pulled himself up from the streets to become the political leader of this middle-class city, Rodarte said he is not about to back down. He denies any wrongdoing and said he was booted from the mayor’s seat--a largely honorary position--because of politics.

Rodarte, who in a decade’s time swapped his gang colors for a suit, said he does not care who he rubs the wrong way while trying to improve life for residents. So far, he has angered council colleagues, staff members and Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina.

Rodarte said he is chaffing at the reins of more senior leaders.

“They expect us young guys to wait our turn. Sit there and shut up and go with the status quo,” said Rodarte. “Well, the people here can’t wait anymore.”

Since joining the council in March 1997, Rodarte has persuaded the council to strip the La Puente city manager of the power to hire and fire department heads, successfully pushed for a tough city code enforcement program, launched a city beautification program and helped broker peace among city gangs.

“He is the only mayor who has ever cared about the people. We’re going to picket the council next week for what they’ve done,” said Dorothea Moreno, president of the local high school football boosters club.

Friends concede that Rodarte sometimes lets his youthful ambition get the better of him. Detractors complain that he hogs the credit for city improvements and that his actions have marred the city’s image since his election to the council last year.

“I am a rebel by nature, but Edward too often wears his heart on his sleeve,” said one friend, Sally H. Fallon, who replaced Rodarte as mayor. “I believe he has the makings of a leader, but he needs to mature.”

Since becoming mayor in April, opponents say he has created an atmosphere of turbulence at City Hall.

Residents have complained that he cuts off anyone addressing the council if he disagrees with them. He drew criticism for setting up a table outside a supermarket to give information on city services without consulting his colleagues.

He also is known as a hard worker. Although the mayor gets the same $3,000 a year for attending meetings that the council members receive, Rodarte was often the last to leave City Hall at night.

He persuaded the council to relieve the city manager of the power to hire and fire department heads--leaving that job to the City Council. Rodarte later hinted that the city ought to hire a new law firm and could replace the Sheriff’s Department with another agency.

His troubles began after the city manager hired a law firm this summer to investigate Rodarte. A city employee alleged that Rodarte threatened to make her life miserable for complaining that he made her proofread his business brochure.

“I am not happy with the way Rodarte was handling himself around city employees and in public,” said Vice Mayor Louis Perez.

Rodarte said the investigation of his conduct was payback for stealing the spotlight and not being a puppet mayor. The city employee, he said, had voluntarily looked at his brochure.

Rodarte grew up in Compton and moved to La Puente when he was 12. In high school, he said, he fell in with the wrong crowd.

His life changed, he said, after reading self-improvement books by Dale Carnegie and others. In 1993, he became a Los Angeles Police Department reserve officer in the Hollenbeck station.

At age 20, he jumped into politics. As a security officer in Walnut schools, he was elected vice president of the California School Employees Assn. for the Walnut Valley Unified District. Soon he was a La Puente city commissioner under the wing of his mentor, City Councilman Ed Chavez.

Then he ran for the council, and with Chavez’s backing, he garnered the most votes in the 1997 at-large election.

His colleagues this spring chose him for mayor.

Almost immediately he turned into the city’s chief spokesman, meeting with everyone from football boosters to Hollywood location managers to local gang members.

Fallon said the council, already upset about the allegations involving the city employee, reached its limit this month when a member of Molina’s staff complained to city officials that Rodarte was rude during a phone conversation.

Miguel Santana, the supervisor’s spokesman, said Rodarte had wanted to set up a meeting to discuss the Sheriff’s Department with Molina. Molina’s representative declined.

Rodarte said he pressed for the meeting to discuss a possible gang injunction. “No public official is too important to meet with the people they represent,” Rodarte said.