Huizar asked to stop using badge issue in reelection campaign

The sister of a Los Angeles Police Department officer killed in the line of duty 32 years ago called on City Councilman Jose Huizar on Thursday to stop using her brother’s badge as an issue in his March 8 reelection campaign — and went so far as to record a telephone message for his opponent to send to voters.

Karen Kubly, herself a retired LAPD officer, said Huizar should have notified her family before making the badge part of his campaign against businessman Rudy Martinez. Her brother, David Kubly, was killed in 1979 while trying to apprehend a robbery suspect.

Huizar sent campaign mailers to voters last week focusing on a 2005 LAPD investigation into Martinez’s unauthorized possession of a police badge with David Kubly’s number. That mailer includes excerpts from a heavily redacted report on the investigation, one that was never provided to Kubly’s family.

Kubly told The Times on Thursday that Huizar had been “disrespectful” to her family and had used the badge for political gain. Hours later, however, she said Huizar apologized and promised to stop using the badge in the campaign.

By then, however, Kubly had recorded a campaign “robo call” message that went out to voters on Martinez’s behalf. That message sharply criticized Huizar and said his claims about Martinez and the LAPD badge were “entirely false.”

Kubly, who said she does not support either candidate, asked Martinez to stop making the calls. Martinez spokesman George Gonzalez said the campaign complied with her request but had been unable to keep some of the messages from reaching voters.

Huizar consultant Parke Skelton disputed that assertion, saying the calls were continuing to go out. “If they wanted to stop them, they would have stopped them,” he said.

The exchange was the latest in the extraordinarily negative campaign for the Los Angeles City Council’s 14th District, which takes in such neighborhoods as Boyle Heights, Eagle Rock, El Sereno and parts of Mount Washington.

Huizar’s campaign obtained an LAPD report on the badge two weeks ago. In that document, police said Martinez, then a police volunteer, had refused to answer questions about his possession of a badge with David Kubly’s number on it.

After The Times published an article on the report, Kubly said Martinez should be investigated for theft. Police said they could not do so because he had a duplicate badge and not the original.

After Kubly met with Martinez last week, her message softened considerably. She said Martinez had been “caught in the middle” and that her main source of anger was the LAPD. She also sent an e-mail to Huizar saying he should have contacted her family before publicizing the badge issue.

Skelton, Huizar’s consultant, said the councilman had relied on the union that represents rank-and-file police officers to inform Kubly’s family that a badge story would be written. “They said they had a relationship with Mrs. Kubly,” Skelton said.

Paul Weber, president of the police union, had no comment on that matter, saying only that he supported a new investigation into the badge.

Martinez, for his part, said he thought it was important to meet with Kubly and maintained that he has done nothing wrong.

He has repeatedly asserted that he received the badge from LAPD officials several years ago to make miniature copies for a fundraiser.

LAPD officials have called that explanation highly unlikely.

david.zahniser@latimes.com