Current Campaign Adds to Legacy of Vicious Politics in South Gate

On the surface, South Gate is a quiet, working-class town in south Los Angeles County that was once known as the home of General Motors and Firestone Rubber and Tire.

But 20 years after those plants closed, South Gate is gaining a reputation as the home of some of the region’s ugliest mudslinging political campaigns.

Last year, thousands of South Gate voters received anonymous mailers that falsely accused one candidate of being a child molester and another of being a drunk driver. Both lost.

Soon after the election, someone shot and wounded the then-64-year-old mayor in what many say was an assassination attempt. The crime remains unsolved.

As Tuesday’s city election nears, the nastiness continues.

In the past few weeks, the head of a local water board has accused the new mayor and a councilman of secretly diverting $1 million in water fees from the residents--a charge they deny.

The city clerk has tried to remove a council candidate from the ballot because police said it appears that he lied about being a South Gate resident. And the city treasurer is angry because the council put a measure on the ballot to cut his pay by more than 90%.

The feuding has triggered two Superior Court cases in recent months and pulled the county district attorney’s office into the fray.

South Gate’s chamber of commerce director, Ted Chandler, said many merchants are tired of the ugly politics.

“I’ve had calls of frustration over the negative attacks,” he said. “People say, ‘I hear this and I hear that. Which is the truth?’ ”

South Gate is a city of 93,700 residents, now 93% Latino with a median household income of about $27,000--compared to a $44,000 median income countywide.

It was once a middle-class union town, like other southeast Los Angeles County communities that relied on heavy manufacturing. But many of those jobs have been replaced by lower-paying positions.

Much of the controversy revolves around Councilman Bill De Witt, a longtime businessman who faces a recall election Tuesday, and his political nemesis, City Treasurer Albert Robles.

De Witt’s critics, including Martha Hernandez, who headed the recall drive, claim that De Witt wasted taxpayer funds when he sued the city in 1997 for violating the state’s open meetings law.

But De Witt said he sued the city as a private citizen--before he took office in March 1999--because the council approved a contract for a new economic development manager without public notice. The city settled the case by eliminating the job and paying De Witt’s $18,000 in legal fees.

De Witt claims the real force behind the recall is Treasurer Robles.

De Witt said Robles wants to replace him because he is the only white on the otherwise all-Latino council and because Robles hopes to get at least three allies on the five-member council.

“He sees me as being in the way of him being emperor of South Gate,” De Witt said of Robles.

Robles denies that he is orchestrating the recall attempt, but he supports it.

Another recall supporter is Robles’ sister, M. Susan Carrillo, who is president of the Southern California Water Replenishment District. The agency serves 43 cities in south Los Angeles County, including South Gate.

In October, Carrillo sent out about 10,000 campaign mailers to South Gate voters accusing De Witt and Mayor Hector De La Torre of “mysteriously spending” $1 million that the district gave the city last year. The mailer, printed on water district stationery, urged voters to support the recall.

Carrillo denies that her brother was behind the mailer. She said she sent the flier because De Witt and De La Torre have accused the water board of charging exorbitant water rates. Carrillo said she just wanted to set the record straight.

“I would have been very pleased to stay out of this fight,” she said. “I’m pretty disgusted with what is going on here.”

But the mailer did not set the record straight.

The $1 million mentioned in the mailer was a grant, most of which has already been used on sewer repairs, according to city records. Carrillo said she is not suggesting that De Witt and De La Torre pocketed the $1 million.

The recall is not supported by the water district board, which will discuss Carrillo’s use of the letterhead at an upcoming meeting.

Meanwhile, Robles said the council is trying to get rid of him by putting Measure HH on Tuesday’s ballot to cut his annual salary from $76,000 to $7,200--the same salary that members of the council get.

De Witt and De La Torre said the council put the measure on the ballot because the job can now be done by a part-time official with several full-time staffers. The salary cut would take effect when Robles’ current term ends March 6.

In September, Robles asked Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe to change the ballot language to make it clear that the measure would make Robles’ job part-time. Yaffe denied the request, saying the measure was not false or misleading as written.

A month later, Yaffe was asked to rule on another dispute involving South Gate’s Tuesday ballot.

In October, South Gate City Clerk Nina Banuelos asked Yaffe to allow her to remove council candidate Richard Mayer from the ballot because police said Mayer is not a South Gate resident.

Mayer, who insists that he lives in South Gate, is one of four candidates vying to replace De Witt if the recall is successful.

According to court records, two South Gate police officers visited the address that Mayer listed on his campaign records. There, police said, they met a Spanish-speaking man who said Mayer did not live there but used the address for “political activities.”

South Gate police say it appears that Mayer lied about his residency. The district attorney’s office is reviewing the matter.

Mayer suggested that the police lied. He said someone may have intimidated or threatened the Spanish-speaking man.

Yaffe rejected the request to remove Mayer from the ballot because many absentee ballots had already been distributed.