Largest Contributor Battles Top Spender : Developer’s Group Seeks to Unseat Lawndale Mayor in Election

Mayor Sarann Kruse leads in campaign spending reported by 12 candidates running for four Lawndale City Council seats, while a political committee that opposes her and favors residential development has made the largest contributions.

In her bid for a fourth two-year term as mayor, Kruse reported spending $7,752 so far, $2,822 of that in the last month when campaigning has become especially intense.

Kruse, one of four candidates in the mayor’s race, reported campaign contributions of $8,509, with $2,128 in cash and $450 in non-monetary gifts received for the reporting period from Feb. 28 through March 26.

The largest single contributions reported were to two candidates by an organization called Citizens for Increased Property Values.

Declined the Gift

The committee gave $1,000 to Councilman Larry Rudolph, who is opposing Kruse for mayor, and $1,000 to Councilman Dan M. McKenzie, who is running for a two-year council term. The committee also has endorsed and offered a contribution to Councilman Harold E. Hofmann, who is running for reelection to a four-year term, but Hofmann said he declined the gift because he is accepting contributions only from longtime supporters.

The group’s organizer and primary contributor is Jonathan Stein, an attorney and developer of a five-unit condominium project. The committee reported $5,926 in contributions--$5,776 from Stein and $150 from builder Serge Perusse.

The committee, which claims a membership of 488 Lawndale homeowners, favors home ownership and opposes absentee ownership and development of high-rise office and apartment projects.

Kruse’s contributors included businessman William Cochrane, $500; chiropractor Mary Hixon, $250; printing company owner Jerri Young, $220, and $100 each from the Gardena Valley Democratic Club, YMCA Executive Director Patrick Scott, and retired businessman David Mannick.

In the final weeks of an unusually contentious campaign, a feud has emerged between Kruse and Stein.

The dispute surfaced last week when the mayor’s husband, Robert Kruse, formally asked the state Fair Political Practices Commission and the district attorney’s office to investigate Stein’s committee. The main allegation is that Stein, in a letter dated Sept. 27, 1987, invited Councilmen Rudolph, Hofmann and McKenzie to violate the state’s open meeting law by asking them “to vote together as a block on all development issues.”

Stein said he had no intention of urging them to violate the law, known as the Brown Act, which prohibits local and state elected officials from making decisions about public business in private. He said he only intended to urge that a consistent development policy be adopted in open council session.

Last weekend, Kruse and her allies attacked Stein and his committee in a mailing prepared by a group called Friends of Honest Government for Lawndale, which listed the names of 24 prominent Lawndale residents as members. Among them were Councilman Terry Birdsall and Planning Commissioner Carol Norman, both of whom are candidates in the April 12 election.

On Tuesday, Stein responded by filing a $4.5-million libel suit in Torrance Superior Court against Kruse, her husband and residents named as members of Friends of Honest Government.

The suit claims that Kruse and the other defendants falsely charged Stein with facilitating violations of the Brown Act and deliberately failing to comply with Planning Commission conditions of approval for his condominium project on 171st Street. The suit says the statements, published in a newsletter mailed to 5,000 Lawndale residents, injured Stein’s reputation and his business.

Kruse said on Wednesday that the group had hired Santa Monica lawyer Robert L. Kress. She otherwise would not comment on the suit.

Other Top Spenders

Campaign finance disclosure statements made public at City Hall on Monday showed that in addition to Kruse, the top spenders are Norman, a candidate for a four-year council term who reported expenditures of $3,826, including $854 in the past month; and homemaker Tina Zarro, a candidate for a two-year term, who reported spending $3,481, including $2,292 in the last month.

Norman reported $6,512 in contributions, including $1,462 last month, almost all in gifts of less than $100. Zarro showed $4,070 in contributions, $2,470 raised in the last month. The contributions included $500 from her father, Donald H. Deford, who owns a building supply company; $250 each from brickmason/contractor Benso Scalabrini, the R. G. Garland Corp. development company and R. E. Hubbard Inc., a heating and air-conditioning firm, and $100 from Mayor Kruse.

Reports for the other candidates in the race for mayor showed:

Rudolph reported expenses of $2,657, including $2,047 in the last month. His fund raising totaled $3,378, including $1,000 from Citizens for Increased Property Values; $500 from automotive businessman Scotty Mizukami; $200 from automotive businessman Larry Bonnell, and $200 from the Lawndale Travelodge.

Aerospace production scheduler Ronald Maxwell reported $646 in expenditures, including $332 in the last month. He also was among the top three candidates in fund raising, reporting $4,877 in contributions, $4,426 in the last month. The contributions included $800 from Raymond King, who works with Maxwell at Voi-Shan aerospace corporation and a non-monetary contribution of $3,000 in stationery supplies from clerical worker Barbara Hough.

Nancy J. Marthens, a business data analyst, showed no contributions or expenditures.

In the campaign for two four-year seats, the other four candidates reported:

Hofmann had $1,189 in expenses, $934 in the last month. He reported $1,189 in contributions, $934 in the last month. They included $250 from auto repair businessman Pete Paley and $200 from Freeway Imports automobile dealership.

Birdsall reported $315 in expenses, with no disbursements or contributions made last month.

Paralegal Ralph C. Williams and office manager Virginia Rhodes reported no campaign expenses or contributions.

In the contest for a two-year term, the other two candidates reported:

McKenzie listed expenses of $2,008, all in the last month. He showed $2,466 in contributions, all received in the last month. They included $1,000 from Citizens for Increased Property Values; $500 from Paley Bros. auto repair business; $300 from the Crest Center for auto repairs; $200 from car salesman Roy Allen, and $200 from Budget Camper, a camper supply company.

Herman Weinstein, a flight engineer and real estate agent, reported no expenses or contributions for the campaign.