Glendora Voters Turning Out 3 Incumbents

Glendora’s mayor and two council members apparently became the first elected officials to be recalled in the city’s 91-year history after opponents raised about $200,000 to oust them from office.

By razor-thin margins, Mayor John Harrold, Councilmen Richard Jacobs and Paul “Sonny” Marshall seemed to have lost the bitterly contested election in this foothills community 27 miles east of Los Angeles.

Although final results are not official, 52% of the votes counted favored ousting Jacobs while 51% favored ousting Harrold. The closest of the races involved Marshall; 50.4% favored his removal from office--a margin of about 90 votes.

Voters elected a slate backed by a recall group to replace the three lawmakers. Planning Commissioner Ken Herman was elected to Harrold’s seat. Business executive Gary Clifford will replace Jacobs and Azusa Pacific University administrator Cliff Hamlow beat Eugene Osko to succeed Marshall.

Despite the narrow margins, recall proponents rejoiced Wednesday and vowed to unite the community. “We are going to get the city back on track and heal the divisions,” Clifford said. “We’ll treat people like they want to be treated, and many of the problems will go away.”

Unless the results change as final ballots are counted, the new council members will take office April 9.

“I am a lawyer. I am waiting until the final results are in,” said Harrold, declining to concede defeat. “They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for this outcome. I got more votes than when I was elected.”

During the campaign, recall advocates charged that the three, as a majority on the five-member council, abused their power.

Critics said they ousted volunteer city commissioners to make way for cronies, unjustly fired a popular city manager and secretly hired a city attorney.

Former Mayor Bob Kuhn, a recall supporter, said he does not expect the outstanding votes to change the election’s outcome.

The ousted council members were longtime advocates of slow growth in a 19.5-square-mile city that has traditionally been favorable to developers of upscale homes in its foothills. In the campaign they painted themselves as guardians of the hillsides who favored more parkland in the face of sprawling development.

Harrold and Jacobs won council seats in March 1999 and promptly blocked approval of a retail development by the council. Voters eventually approved the Glendora Marketplace in a referendum. Marshall was elected last March, giving Harrold and Jacobs a new ally on the council.

During the campaign, Harrold, Marshall and Jacobs had sought to capitalize on the geographical and class divides in the city of 49,000.

Jacobs chastised his critics as representing only those who live in gated communities in the foothills, while ignoring those in smaller homes south of Alosta Avenue, which is now named Route 66.

The election was an unfortunate necessity, said Doug Tessitor, recall group spokesman.

“The fact the vote was split nearly evenly shows a lot of people found the whole process of recall distasteful,” he said.

But, he added, the recall targets “left us no choice. Our approach now will be one of reconciliation.”