Carson, a Model of Multiracial Politics, Hit by Discord

When Pete Fajardo became mayor of Carson in 1997. he did what elected officials often do. He returned the favor to those who helped him get elected.

Many of them happened to be members of his own ethnic group.

One of a few Filipino Americans in elected office nationwide, Fajardo appointed unprecedented numbers of Filipinos to city commissions, helped them win city contracts and urged city officials to give them careful consideration in hiring. Today, Filipinos make up about 24% of Carson’s 137 city commissioners and committee members.

Appointments like these may appear to be standard American “ethnic politics,” in which various racial and ethnic groups take care of their own. But they have raised eyebrows as well as protests in Carson, one of Southern California’s most racially balanced communities, where many citizens have worked for decades to address cultural issues without letting race dominate politics.

Some in the South Bay city of 88,500--where whites, blacks, Latinos and Asians each constitute about one-quarter of the city, according to the 1990 census--made noises that their mayor was upsetting that delicate balance.

This summer, those noises turned into an outcry--and then into a roar.

Fajardo’s critics said he was improperly using his influence to direct lucrative city contracts and jobs to Filipino Americans, sometimes at the expense of current employees.

The situation exploded in July when he tried to strip the respected city manager, who is African American, of most of his power.

Fajardo’s critics say the two-term mayor’s tendency to favor Filipinos is recasting Carson’s political dynamic, forcing other leaders to protect their own communities. They note that most on the five-member council--made up of one white, two blacks and two Filipinos--more likely than not appoint people of their own race or ethnicity to city committees. The mayor, meanwhile, says that he is simply pursuing a healthy commitment to make Carson reflect its growing Filipino community.

The debate has shattered the city’s long-standing multiracial coalitions: Black leaders say they are leery of working with Filipinos in City Hall, and Latinos have recently formed new political activist groups to shore up group power.

“I think it could be an ethnic war if you allow this to percolate any more,” said African American Councilman Daryl Sweeney.

Carson’s is an instructive, cautionary tale for the increasing number of cities trying to manage multiracial politics. It shows how easily diverse political coalitions can be shattered when one group breaks the rules--or even looks as if it has.

“Carson has been one of those cities that has been balanced, and it seemed like there was an arrangement, a consensus” that allowed for cooperative interracial politics, said Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. “Pete Fajardo is trying to make change, and that’s going to rub people the wrong way. People are going to try to protect their interests.”

For years, Carson residents have boasted that their city--home to the Goodyear blimp--has an unusual, near-perfect racial balance. As of the 1990 census, almost nowhere else in the nation did whites, blacks, Latinos and Asians each make up about one-quarter of the city.

Racial tolerance had been promoted in Carson since the city incorporated in 1968. That year, when the United States was awash in racial turmoil, the city’s 80% white electorate chose one African American and one Japanese American, along with three whites, for the first City Council.

Today, Asians and Pacific Islanders include generations-old Japanese American families, many of whom cultivated farms there in the decades before developers moved in.

The area is home to more Samoan Americans than anywhere outside Western Samoa. In recent decades, Filipino newcomers have arrived at a rapid rate, now making up about 20% of Carson’s population and 24% of the teens at the high school, according to city estimates.

African Americans dominate Carson’s more affluent, northern neighborhoods and are among the city’s most influential residents.

Whites, though firmly rooted there, are an aging population whose numbers are likely to drop in coming years.

As in most of Southern California, Latinos, largely of Mexican origin, are the city’s fastest-growing community. In the 1990 census, they made up about 28% of Carson. That number is expected to be about 35% by 2004.

Despite such growth, none of Carson’s local elected officials is Latino.

Latinos make up barely 10% of city commissioners and committee members, nearly half of whom are appointed by the mayor and the rest by other council members. More than 40% are black, 16% are white and 24% are Filipino, according to unofficial City Hall statistics and community reports.

Many in Carson blame increased ethnic politics for the trends--a pattern that began during Fajardo’s administration, city employees say.

“Latinos have a sense of not belonging to the community because of the lack of representation for so long,” said Steven Caudillo, an activist with the League of United Latin American Citizens, one of two Latino groups formed in the last year to address such problems.

Vera Robles DeWitt, a local businesswoman and former council member, the city’s only Latino to have held that office, acknowledged that Carson Latinos, on the whole, do not vote, volunteer or participate in civic activities as often as they might.

In past years, having no representatives in City Hall did not mean that a particular ethnic group would have no voice, community activists said.

Early Carson residents, who united in a fight for incorporation during the 1960s, say that they formed solid, multiracial groups that worked to weed out the auto junkyards and dumps that dominated the city.

Cleaning up the city was the “common cause that we wanted to rally around,” said Gil Smith, president of the organizing committee for incorporation and mayor for 13 years. “We were a community for one cause.”

Most were sensitive to individual group interests, he said, but those interests were carefully balanced.

Smith, who is black, laments that is no longer the case.

Increasingly, some City Council members look out for their own first and foremost, according to those inside and outside City Hall.

Many say Fajardo and Filipino American Councilman Manny Ontal, in particular, publicly promote Filipino interests in such areas as city hiring and contracting.

As an example, critics cite the city’s contract for prosecution services. Earlier this year, the City Council seemed ready to renew the $125,000-per-year contract with Dapeer, Rosenblit & Litvak, the Huntington Park law firm that had been doing the work for 12 years, and does similar work for more than 30 cities. It had submitted the only bid by the deadline in mid-February.

But in July, Ontal and Fajardo made a motion to reopen the bidding. Another attorney had come forward with a late bid: Jose Y. Lauchengco Jr., Fajardo’s personal attorney, longtime friend and fellow Filipino American.

Ultimately, other council members pressured Fajardo not to vote on the issue, and Dapeer’s contract was renewed.

Fajardo insists, despite what he acknowledges is the “appearance of conflict,” that he has done nothing wrong or even unusual in politics.

Ontal said: “On the issue that we are pushing for Filipino Americans, that’s completely false.” The council member said his focus is to “promote diversity in our work force, especially at the management level.”

Such incidents infuriate some Carson activists.

“It’s certainly not a level playing field if a portion of the elected officials are working toward serving one ethnic group and not looking to help the remainder of the city,” Caudillo said.

Michael Mitoma, a businessman and former mayor who lost to Fajardo in 1997, said: “It’s gotten to the point where no one wants to bid anymore because unless you have some juice” it is a waste of time.

Some city employees report that the mayor has pressured them to hire Filipino applicants, even those who may not be the most qualified.

One veteran city employee knowledgeable about hiring practices reported being pulled aside by the mayor on at least two occasions and forcefully urged to hire Filipinos.

“That wasn’t a just-checking-in, friendly conversation,” the employee said, asking not to be identified for fear of punishment.

Fajardo tried to get more direct control of hiring this summer when he proposed stripping the African American city manager of his powers to hire and fire employees.

Political Battle Becomes Racial

It was another recent City Hall battle that quickly became racial.

Jerry Groomes became Carson’s city manager two years ago. Having worked in city governments nationwide for 25 years, he has been widely praised in Carson for restructuring City Hall and raising the level of talent through careful hiring.

But in June, Fajardo began making moves to demote him, saying that he was dissatisfied with the diversity of Groomes’ hires. At issue were two high-ranking managers that Groomes had recently brought on. Both are white.

Black City Council members Raunda Frank and Sweeney joined others--many, but not all, African American--to rally behind Groomes, testifying at community meetings and City Council hearings. In council discussions, Sweeney and Frank squared off against Fajardo, Ontal and Kay Calas, the white council member, to defend Groomes.

Groomes issued reports showing that the 62 people hired on his watch--and the City Hall staff in general--were almost perfectly racially balanced. Although longtime employees, mostly whites and blacks, dominate the upper echelons of city government, Groomes said, his management-track hires are racially balanced.

“We didn’t hire anyone because of their ethnicity,” Groomes said in a recent interview. “I don’t care if those 62 people are black, white or Latino. I’d like to think they’re all good. . . . But the reality of things is, there is a political factor that comes into play.”

Asked if he was pressured to hire Filipinos, he said: “I choose not to comment.”

Planning Commissioner Barbara Post, who defended Groomes, said Fajardo told her in a private meeting during the turmoil that one of the management positions--there were four open--was for a Filipino.

“He drew a bunch of circles on a piece of paper and put a B or W inside for a black or white that Groomes had hired,” said Post, appointed by Fajardo. “He pointed to an open circle and said, ‘That’s mine. I’m going to get a Filipino in there.’ ”

Fajardo denies earmarking any jobs for Filipinos. “I would never tell them to hire someone,” said Fajardo, adding that he was happy with Groomes’ new hires because they are “the most qualified people.”

But he says he struggles to juggle the city’s varying interests and does “every now and then call and say ‘Can you look at this application?’ because sometimes, despite the qualifications of a person, we still get denied.”

Fajardo says that he gets steady pressure from Filipino residents to improve their access to city positions and contracts. He is one of only two mayors, and a few high-ranking legislators, of Filipino descent in the nation, and is closely monitored by Filipinos in Carson and elsewhere.

That scrutiny is not always accompanied by support.

Earlier this year, the mayor pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of improperly collecting fees as an attorney. He had for years worked as a paralegal in a law firm, and documents showed he had signed some paperwork as an attorney. He agreed to plead guilty to the misdemeanor.

Since then, many Filipino supporters have soured on him.

“Mayor Fajardo should have resigned . . . he does not have the moral capacity to rule,” said Teddy Cecilio, editor of Ang Peryodiko, the largest circulation Filipino newspaper in the region. “He has plans to run for mayor [again] and everybody’s laughing. The community is saying he’s trying to destroy the power that the Filipino community has been trying to build in the city.”

Fajardo insists that such comments are as unfair as the charges swirling around him in City Hall. He has, he said, only tried to protect the best interests of his community.

“Look at the upper management of the city employees,” Fajardo said. “There are no Filipinos there at all. Don’t you think that if we were pressuring people to [hire Filipinos], this would look different?”

Though Groomes’ job was unchanged, many believe the damage was done.

The strong Filipino-black political coalition that once dominated the City Council--and helped get Sweeney, Frank and Ontal elected--quickly disintegrated.

Blacks now are regrouping, turning inward. “There’s been a ripple effect,” Frank said. “I think people are suspicious now.”

Post said: “I’ve seen this coming for six, seven months. . . . It’s ethnic politics. It’s the struggle for power between ethnic groups.”

Some who are critical of Fajardo and his allies believe this is trickling down to voters, who seem prepared to choose leaders on the basis of ethnicity and not of community involvement.

They cite the election of Ontal in 1999. The 36-year-old was working as an assistant city manager in Duarte when he helped with Fajardo’s 1994 reelection campaign. The two stayed in touch and by 1998 Ontal had moved to Carson.

A year later, Ontal campaigned heavily among Filipino groups, was endorsed by Fajardo, and won a City Council seat.

“In the past, people ran for office because they had a vested interest in the community and they had some history,” Robles DeWitt said.

Carson’s turmoil, experts say, is another result of the unprecedented demographic shifts sweeping Southern California. Though residents may get along in schools, workplaces and shopping malls, ethnic tension often comes up in power-laden arenas such as politics.

Guerra of Loyola University said: “This is a region where we’re looking at how to create a governance structure that understands ethnicity but is not dominated by ethnicity.”

Longtime residents wonder where it’s all headed, particularly with approaching reelection bids by Calas, Sweeney and Fajardo in March. Some who retired from the City Council years ago are considering getting back into the mix.

Filing for the election is permitted through Dec. 8.

“It’s got to change,” said Mitoma, a possible candidate. “Or we’re going to have a divided city.

“We’re going to lose everything we worked for.”

The Changing Face of Carson

Carson had an even racial balance in thew 1990 census. Those numbers are expected to change significantly in coming years.

1980*

Am. Indian/Eskimo/other: 14%

Asian/Pacific Islander: 15%

White: 42%

Black: 29%

Total population: 81,221

1990

Am. Indian/Eskimo/other: less than 1%

Asian/Pacific Islander: 24%

Latino: 28%

Black: 26%

White: 22%

Total population: 83,995

1999 (estimated)

Am. Indian/Eskimo/other: less than 1%

Asian/Pacific Islander: 29%

Latino: 32%

Black: 24%

White: 15%

Total population: 88,553

2004 (projected)

Am. Indian/Eskimo/other: less than 1%

Asian/Pacific Islander: 31%

Latino: 35%

Black: 23%

White: 11%

Total population: 92,078

*Latinos totaled 18,926 in 1980 but are not included in the chart because they were counted by race and ethnicity (considered black, white and other in addition to Latino).

Note: Figures may not total 100% because of rounding.

Source: U.S. Census, Claritas Inc.