CITY ELECTIONS / CARSON : Challengers Hope to Have Field Day Against Sidetracked Incumbents

Imagine a City Council race in which one incumbent on the ballot is actually campaigning for Congress. Or where the mayor, the top vote-getter in the last election, didn’t have the money to pay for mailers or campaign signs until this week.

That’s the situation in Carson, where Councilwoman Vera Robles DeWitt and Mayor Michael I. Mitoma, the two dominant forces in city politics, have been largely invisible in the April 14 election race. DeWitt is focusing her efforts on a run for the Democratic nomination in the newly created 37th Congressional District, and Mitoma has virtually no campaign funds.

This unusual situation has opened the door for six challengers who are vying with DeWitt, Mitoma and incumbent Kay A. Calas for three at-large seats on the council.

Calas, a council member since 1976, is considered a front-runner and raised about $47,000 for her reelection campaign--more than all of the challengers combined. But DeWitt and Mitoma, longtime council adversaries, face a more difficult task in winning reelection.

DeWitt is not campaigning to retain her council seat, but she is urging supporters to vote for her in both the city race and congressional primary. If she wins both seats, DeWitt said she will resign the council position she has held since 1981. Not surprisingly, Mitoma and many of the challengers discount DeWitt’s chances of retaining her council seat without campaigning for it.

“She is an absent candidate,” said challenger Pete Fajardo, 49, a Carson planning commissioner and community services consultant. “That effectively is a big plus for all of us other candidates. (But) if she wins in Carson without campaigning, that really shows her strength.”

Mitoma, meanwhile, has found himself on the defensive at council meetings and candidate forums as his character and ethics have been questioned. According to court documents and interviews, Mitoma did not report at least $97,000 in loans from three banking associates, including a planning commissioner Mitoma renominated and voted for.

The mayor also exaggerated the extent of his college education, claiming to have a master’s degree in business administration from UCLA when he had only enrolled in night classes, according to the university.

“I’m proud of the job I’ve done,” Mitoma said, declining comment this week on the continuing controversy about his character.

However, in a previous interview, Mitoma said he had earned an executive management certificate in a continuing education program at UCLA, but that the document was destroyed in a fire at his home last July. The mayor also said he did not believe he had to list the loans on the financial disclosure forms because the money was loaned to him personally and that there were no written agreements concerning the funds.

As of Feb. 29, the last required campaign finance report, Mitoma had no money in his war chest. In the first six months of 1988, when he was last up for reelection, records show he spent $31,350.

“I just haven’t had a fund-raiser,” Mitoma, 48, a self-employed consultant on municipal issues outside Carson said before holding one this week.

Calas has also come under fire from residents. Two citizens groups are criticizing Calas for missing 12 of the council’s 48 meetings during 1990 and 1991--the worst attendance record on the council during those periods. Calas says most of the absences occurred when she was sick or when she attended five funerals, all of them for family members.

The incumbents have been criticized for the infighting that typifies Carson City Council meetings. “They argue all the time, they’re disrespectful, there’s no harmony there at all,” said challenger Carl E. Robinson Sr., a substitute teacher and retired postal worker.

Mitoma defends his council record, pointing out support for the adoption of a balanced $29.1-million budget for the 1991-92 fiscal year. And, he says, the city scored a coup in landing home-furnishings giant Ikea as an anchor store for financially ailing Carson Mall. Mitoma voted for and helped guide both matters toward approval.

“It’s incredible that we’ve been able to balance our budget with the way things are today,” said Mitoma, who also supports the campaign of Calas.

City officials initially projected a $2-million shortfall for the end of the fiscal year June 30. Now, they are anticipating breaking even, partly because of the release of some funds being held up by the county and because the city’s 300 full-time employees agreed to take a week of unpaid leave. Additionally, the city has balanced its budget for the past six fiscal years by dipping into reserve accounts set aside for equipment replacement or emergencies.

The most recurring issue among the challengers and incumbents is Carson’s financial situation. This year’s budget, which eliminated nine city positions, is $500,000 smaller than last year’s. Twenty more positions remain unfilled because of a hiring freeze to cut costs.

“I think there’s always room for improvement,” Calas said of the budget issue. “We’ve been cutting back. We’re not in the red right now and I think sales-tax revenue is going to improve” with the renovation of Carson Mall and other commercial developments.

Calas, owner of a property investment company, defends her record on the council, pointing out her support for senior citizen programs and affordable housing. Calas lobbied the council the past two years for the construction of an 88-unit senior citizens housing complex, which was approved this week.

Fajardo, who with about $20,000 in campaign funds has raised more than any other candidate besides Calas, says the city’s financial picture could be improved by offering more incentives for businesses to relocate or open in Carson. He also wants to increase affordable housing in Carson.

Fajardo’s well-organized campaign has picked up the endorsements of Mitoma, Councilwoman Juanita McDonald, Los Angeles school board Chairman Warren Furutani and U.S. Rep. Mervyn M. Dymally (D-Compton), among others. He also has attracted support from the area’s large Filipino community, whose members account for much of his campaign contributions.

Calas and Mitoma also favor providing more incentives for businesses to locate in Carson. Challenger Larry E. Grant, president of a nonprofit educational organization and a retired banker, proposes a more aggressive effort at business licensing and tax collection to increase city revenue.

Real estate consultant Ralph Quinte favors the creation of a budget task force to re-evaluate the city’s funding priorities. And Robinson favors boosting parks and recreation programs and cutting the salaries of top administrators if further cutbacks are needed.

Challengers James H. Peoples and Iragayle (Gayle) Lucretia Konig, 40, propose revamping the budget process and eliminating all city subsidies for programs that cannot pay for themselves through user fees.

Peoples also wants to create an ethics policy that would require council members to provide the city with copies of their federal income tax returns in addition to state-required economic interest forms. His campaign has been endorsed by Lourdes Tipton, a real estate consultant who dropped out of the council race this week but whose name will still appear on the ballot.

Candidates for Carson City Council

Carson voters will go to the polls April 14 to choose three City Council members. Each of the seats in the at-large election carries a four-year term.

Kay A. Calas

Age: 67

Occupation: incumbent council member; property investment company owner.

Key issues: increasing affordable and senior housing; stimulating Carson’s economy and boosting employment through commercial development; increasing residents’ involvement in neighborhood watch programs.

Campaign funds raised: $47,397

Vera Robles DeWitt

Age: 43

Occupation: incumbent council member; bail bonds business owner. Also campaigning for Democratic nomination in 37th Congressional District.

Key Issues: creating new jobs and retraining programs for displaced workers; lobbying for comprehensive national health care program.

Campaign funds raised: $24,104

Pete Fajardo

Age: 49

Occupation: planning commissioner and community services consultant.

Key issues: increasing affordable and senior housing; bringing in revenue-generating businesses that will employ Carson residents; expanding job training and retraining programs.

Campaign funds raised: $20,672

Larry E. Grant

Age: 66

Occupation: president of a nonprofit cultural and educational foundation; retired banker.

Key issues: fiscal responsibility in adopting a city budget; maintaining rent control; expansion of Parks and Recreation Department youth activities.

Campaign funds raised: $575

Iragayle (Gayle) Lucretia Konig

Age: 40

Occupation: brokerage firm clerk.

Key issues: developing more programs to steer youths away from gangs; increasing job skills and retraining programs; opposes deficit spending budgets and will not support new taxes.

Campaign funds raised: less than $1,000 *

Michael I. Mitoma

Age: 48

Occupation: incumbent mayor/self-employed consultant.

Key issues: aggressively attracting new businesses to Carson and keeping existing businesses in the city; opposes utility tax; supports rent control

Campaign funds raised: 0

James H. Peoples

Age: 58

Occupation: retired Los Angeles County chief of operations.

Key issues: creating an ethics policy for city officials; balancing the city’s budget by June 30 of each year; increasing the city’s reserve funds to guarantee the maintenance of the city’s infrastructure.

Campaign funds raised: $2,325

Ralph Quinte

Age: 66

Occupation: real estate consultant

Key issues: creating a cooperative effort between the city and private sector to fund affordable housing to be supplemented by federal matching funds; attracting businesses to Carson to create more jobs; creating a watchdog group to monitor city budget

Campaign funds raised: $4,229

Carl E. Robinson Sr.

Age: 58

Occupation: substitute teacher/retired postal worker

Key issues: reinstituting a second trash collection day; curbing deficit spending and building up suitable reserves; restoring cuts in certain Parks and Recreation Department programs.

Campaign funds raised: less than $1,000 *

* Candidate has signed statement pledging to not raise or spend more than $1,000

Source: Campaign finance reports filed with city of Carson covering period through Feb. 29