Feud Between El Monte Police, Mayor Grows

In El Monte, the mayor’s biggest political foe is not the contender trying to take her seat in Tuesday’s election.

It’s the police.

The El Monte Police Officers Assn. has fought to oust Mayor Patricia Wallach for years.

This year so far, the union has outspent her and all the City Council candidates. It has mailed campaign fliers asking why she “is trashing our city” and another calling her “two-faced.” Off-duty police officers have even paid visits to residents who display Wallach’s campaign signs, asking why they would vote for her.

But this has been a genteel election by comparison to past years.

One year, the association put up a billboard with Wallach’s home phone number, telling residents to call her directly and complain that El Monte wasn’t safe.

The mayor and her supporters say that the political attacks are part of an endless trench battle led by the officers union and the police chief. They say that the union’s accusations are false and that the union, of which all the force’s officers are members, is so political that it raises questions about the department’s role as an objective public agency.

“The police see to their own interests and have their own agenda,” said South El Monte Mayor George Lujan, who once covered his neighboring city’s politics as a reporter.

Police Department officials say that the mayor has consistently voted down items they put on the City Council agenda, thus hindering the agency’s ability to protect and serve. Their tactics are necessary, they say, to ensure public safety as a priority in a city that now boasts of being one of the safest in the nation for its size.

“We don’t see her as a supporter of law enforcement,” said Richard Thomas, spokesman for the union.

The issue of political attacks by the police association, as well as accountability in the department, dominated a candidates forum Thursday night.

“The association, like any group, has a right to support candidates,” said Gilbert Zendejas, who is running for City Council. “The problem is the misinformation on their fliers. They know what buttons to push and how to intimidate people.”

The candidates supported by the association--Rachel Montes for mayor, and Jack Thurston and Tony Fellow for the council--did not attend the forum.

Venom between the union and the mayor dates back to Wallach’s predecessor, Tom Keiser, who said his image was burned in effigy at the police station.

In 1994, Mayor Wallach accused the president of the association of paying a transient to steal her signs. An investigation by the Police Department ensued, but no charges were ever brought.

“It comes to the point where I tell my friends not to put up my campaign signs, because I don’t want them to be harassed or intimidated,” Wallach said.

Police officials denied accusations of intimidation. They said that although the public may not perceive it, there is a rigid distinction between officers’ work on duty and their efforts for the association.

“The union officers go out and treat every person in the community equally,” said Assistant Chief Bill Ankeny. “But I certainly see how it could be a concern. It is unusual for law enforcement to be that involved in politics.”

Police associations lobby like all employee unions and are major political forces in most cities. But El Monte’s stands out, Ankeny said, because Police Chief Wayne Clayton does not discourage campaigning, as some chiefs do.

The chief did not respond to calls seeking comment for this story.

His critics, who include Wallach and council members Bonnie Jimenez and Art Barrios, say that Clayton uses the police association’s manpower and money to try to elect City Council candidates who will vote to allocate more and more money to the Police Department.

Wallach recalled the council’s controversial approval of installing a $1,082 five-disc CD changer in Clayton’s newly city-purchased Mercury Grand Marquis.

Police “seem to ride roughshod over the city administrator,” Lujan said. “Basically they do what they want.”

Zendejas said the association’s fliers taint what would otherwise be a civil election.

“The people in this city are just turned off by the politics,” he said. “They’ve just had enough.”