Casino Ballot Issue Spawns Bitter Feud : Election: Even in usually raucous Hawaiian Gardens, the debate over a card club stands out.

The crowd of about 40 protesters clutched picket signs outside Hawaiian Gardens City Councilwoman Kathleen Navejas’ home and chanted: “Navejas must go! Navejas must go!”

By the time the protest was over a week ago, the mayor’s wife and a councilman’s sister had been placed under citizen’s arrest.

In a city where elections have been marred by personal attacks, theft, vandalism and even animal slaughter, the debate over whether to allow card clubs, which Navejas opposes, is no less raucous.

The largely Latino city of 14,000 has been plagued by poverty, high unemployment and high crime. Now the city is facing a ballooning budget deficit and is struggling to pay its workers. Many believe that a poker casino would be like hitting the proverbial jackpot by solving the city’s financial woes.

But others, such as the Rev. Larry Darnell, have opposed the card club measure on ethical grounds. Each Sunday, he tells the congregation at Peter Chanel Catholic Church on 214th Street that a poker club would conflict with the church’s values and hurt families in the city. “Our main concern is addiction,” he said. “Gambling addiction means a person can lose his home.”

Hawaiian Gardens Interim City Administrator Charles Gomez points out that the city in Southeast Los Angeles County faces a $1.5-million budget deficit. Without a card club to boost revenue, Gomez said, “everything will be in jeopardy.”

A handful of Southern California cities have been considering whether to allow poker clubs to help pay bills. But perhaps nowhere has the debate grown as intense as in Hawaiian Gardens.

That intensity may have peaked with the protest in front of Navejas’ home. Navejas and Councilman Rene Lopes oppose the ballot measure, and Navejas’ outspoken stance recently made her the target of a recall effort.

When Navejas’ ex-husband, Carlos, confronted the picketers, a shouting match ensued and he placed four protesters under citizen’s arrest on charges of disturbing the peace. They, in turn, placed him under citizen’s arrest. The five are scheduled to appear in court next month.

A special election Nov. 21 will let voters decide the issue. But opponents have been fighting the measure in court and a hearing is set for Monday to determine if the election will take place.

Strangers visited Navejas’ home again Friday, this time with a search warrant to seize files of the Hawaiian Gardens Social Services Agency, whose board of directors is chaired by her ex-husband. Since spring, the district attorney’s office has investigated allegations of embezzlement by the agency, which offers food and clothing to poor residents.

Carlos Navejas said he believes that the allegations are politically motivated. He noted that the Moskowitz Foundation--formerly the agency’s main funding source--recently stopped its $30,000-a-month contribution and opened its own feeding program. Navejas said he believes that Dr. Irving Moskowitz, who heads the foundation, may have withdrawn his support in an attempt to force Kathleen Navejas to support the card club.

One of the proposed clubs would be partially owned by Moskowitz, a retired physician whose foundation owns a bingo parlor in the city.

Moskowitz’s lawyer, Beryl Weiner, said the foundation withdrew its funding for the agency after learning of the district attorney’s investigation and not to force Navejas to support the card club.

Supporters of the measure are rushing to beat a Jan. 1 deadline, when a statewide three-year moratorium on new card clubs goes into effect.

The city’s deficit has been growing for several years, but officials have been unable to agree on a strategy to correct the problem. In August, the council fired the city administrator and hired Gomez to help sort through the mess.

Gomez insists that the card club is vital to the city’s economic health. The bingo parlor generates 10% of the city’s $3-million budget.

The council voted this year to start up a $2.1-million-a-year Police Department that costs $500,000 more than the county Sheriff’s Department had charged to patrol the community. The 20-member department has been a popular, but costly, addition.

If the poker club measure is defeated, Cabrera said, the city probably would be forced to dismantle the force. In addition, the city’s Recreation and Parks Department budget, which provides senior citizen and youth programs, would have to be slashed, he said.

“The city desperately needs that revenue,” he said.

Gomez said specific cuts have not been discussed, but added that every department would be susceptible.

At the center of the opposition is Navejas, who said she does not oppose gambling on moral grounds, but believes that the signature gathering process leading to the ballot measure was “fraught with deceptions and distortions.”

Navejas and the Committee Against Card Club Assns. have argued in court that the petitions were not circulated by registered voters, and that at least one resident’s address was changed after the signatures were certified.

Instead of allowing a card club, Navejas believes that the city could begin to balance its budget by cutting 19 of the recreation department’s 37 employees. In addition, she said the council should consider cutting the administration’s budget.

“Then we would be able to afford the Police Department,” she said.