CYPRESS : Card Club Foes Play Their Hand for Council Seat

A citizens organization opposed to card clubs said Monday it is endorsing one of its members, Tim Keenan, for election to the City Council in the Nov. 7 recall balloting.

Keenan, 42, owner of an audio-production company in Cypress and a 19-year resident of the city, has filed for the seat currently held by Councilwoman Gail H. Kerry. She is one of three incumbents facing recall in the Nov. 7 election, and she was a supporter of an unsuccessful effort to bring a card club to Cypress in 1993.

The card club proposal was vigorously fought by Cypress Citizens Against Card Clubs, an organization formed during the controversy. The group continued as an active political organization even after the card club referendum was overwhelmingly defeated at the polls in 1993.

In the November, 1994, regular City Council election, Cypress Citizens Against Card Clubs sponsored two candidates, Mary Ann Jones and Tom Carroll, both of whom won. Jones and Carroll are the only two incumbents on the City Council not facing recall. In addition to Kerry, the other two targeted for recall are Mayor Cecilia L. Age and Councilman Walter K. Bowman.

There is no current effort to bring a card club to Cypress, and the issue is not the focus of the recall effort. The recall started in response to the Sept. 26 vote by Kerry, Age and Bowman approving plans for a carpet-distribution warehouse.

Nonetheless, Keenan said in an interview, the possibility always exists for a renewed effort to open a card club because Cypress has Los Alamitos Race Track within its city boundaries. He said racetracks often become interested in expanding their legal gambling to include card clubs.