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From POW to Politician: Soldier Enters a New Battle

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

After capturing the nation’s heart last year as one of three American prisoners of war in the Kosovo conflict, Army Sgt. Andrew Ramirez has basked in a spotlight often reserved for war heroes returned home.

The sturdy East Los Angeles native threw out the first pitch at a Los Angeles Dodgers game. He waved to beaming crowds at several local parades and rallies.

Now, after leaving the Army last month, Ramirez, 26, is seeking the spotlight in another way, this time as a candidate for mayor of Baldwin Park.

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But politics being politics, he hasn’t exactly received a hero’s welcome in the San Gabriel Valley city. During the week since the soft-spoken Ramirez filed as a mayoral candidate for the March election, opponents have attacked him as a “carpetbagger,” a “straw man” and “just too young.”

The world of local politics, Ramirez is learning, can be just as bumpy as that road near the Macedonia-Kosovo border that led to 32 days in Yugoslavian captivity with two other American soldiers, Sgt. Chris Stone and Spc. Steven Gonzalez.

But on this battleground, a “take no prisoners” attitude prevails.

Although Ramirez contends that he is well-equipped to lead Baldwin Park, several see him as a convenient figurehead in a deeper struggle for control of the City Council.

Having recently moved into the Baldwin Park home owned by his mother, Vivian Ramirez--who has lived there for two years--Ramirez “knows absolutely nothing about this community,” said Councilwoman Linda Gair. “The young man has never lived here.”

Such sentiments are a long way from the prayers for Ramirez and his companions offered by a nation on edge during the height of the NATO conflict with Yugoslavia last year.

Riding in an armored Humvee driven by Ramirez near the Kosovo border in March 1999, the three men took fire from Yugoslavian soldiers before their vehicle ran into a tree. Initially beaten and interrogated, they were isolated in tiny cells for more than a month before the Rev. Jesse Jackson helped negotiate their release.

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Baldwin Park--a flat stretch of mostly modest homes surrounding a bustling downtown and sprinkled with fruit trees, strip malls and industrial parks--rallied around the Ramirez family during its ordeal.

But the town is now more concerned about public safety than national security. The Ramirez campaign is driven by anger at Mayor Manuel Lozano’s openness to the idea of replacing the police force with a contract for the county Sheriff’s Department to patrol the city.

The City Council has approved a study to examine whether it is more economical to do away with the Police Department, which takes about 67% of the city’s budget of roughly $13 million.

With Lozano, 42, unopposed for reelection, those against contracting with the Sheriff’s Department scrambled for an alternative. They found a willing Ramirez.

Because of the deluge of support from thousands last year, Ramirez said, he was bursting with a desire to “give back to the community” after being honorably discharged following eight years of Army service.

His original plan was to join the National Guard full time and continue talking to local students and other groups about his Balkans experience.

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But conversations with local leaders excited about Ramirez’s return to Baldwin Park convinced him that he had a political future here.

“I talked to a lot of people in the area and got the support of my family and friends,” he said. “With the elections coming up, I saw that [a shot at the mayor’s seat] was here for me.”

Though he has no platform yet, Ramirez--who serves part time in the National Guard--said a primary concern will be to save the Police Department.

“I feel a police force dedicated to this community is very important,” he said. As for his ability to take over the reins of a city of about 69,000, Ramirez cited years of leading troops through peace and war. “I believe my life experiences have made me more mature than a normal 26-year-old.”

Moreover, there is a precedent in Baldwin Park for electing a young mayor: former Mayor Fidel Vargas was 23 when he took office in 1992.

Lozano, who remembers organizing a local rally for Ramirez while he was in captivity, said the soldier is in over his head. “It would be like me jumping into a whole different field I had no knowledge about,” he said.

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Running as a fiscal conservative who favors more economic development in Baldwin Park, Lozano--communications director for a psychiatric hospital in Pasadena--has been mayor for two years and was a council member for four years before that. He ran unsuccessfully earlier this year for the 57th Assembly District seat.

His rival in that race, Assemblyman Edward Chavez (D-Industry), is among Ramirez’s strongest supporters, as are Assemblyman Thomas Calderon (D-Montebello) and former Assemblyman Martin Gallegos.

Lozano conceded that such backing, combined with Ramirez’s celebrity, will be an obstacle but said, “My personal feeling is that the city will see beyond that.”

Larry A. Walton, a City Council candidate who said he was among those asking Ramirez to run, said the town needs a young hero at the helm. Lozano is too chummy with special interest groups, Walton said, and has been unable to bring consensus to a divided City Council.

Ramirez’s youth and energy could inspire greater civic participation in the burgeoning area of mostly young Latino and Asian American families, Walton said.

Besides, he said, “he served his country. We should salute him.”

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