Officers May Face Fight Over Role in Election

Police who took sides in last month’s recall election in Hawaiian Gardens may have landed themselves in trouble with the City Council.

Not one of the council candidates endorsed by the city’s Police Officers Assn. won office, and now the victors are talking about suing some officers for their role in the election.

Mayor Lupe Cabrera, who along with Councilman Robert Canada avoided being recalled, said he is particularly angry about accusations that he and others on the council “made back-room deals for cash,” as charged in a flier distributed by the police association during the campaigns.

Alleging various forms of corruption, the police union voted to support the recall of Cabrera, Canada and former Councilman Robert Prida, who lost by a narrow margin. The officers asked voters to spare former Councilwoman Kathleen Navejas, an anti-gambling crusader, but she also lost.

Now Cabrera is asking the president of the association, Sgt. Ray Gilmore, to either provide proof of the allegations or apologize publicly.

“Those are serious allegations that [the association] made,” the mayor said. And because Gilmore’s signature appeared on several of the union’s campaign fliers, Cabrera said, “I hold him responsible.”

Canada has threatened to sue the police union, and City Atty. Julia Sylva said she will investigate the possibility of the city filing suit as soon as the council gives her the final word, which she said could happen as early as next week.

In an interview, Gilmore insisted the campaign accusations were harmless blanket statements against the council’s three-member majority, and not against any specific individual.

He also said the focus on him is misplaced and that he simply acted on the union’s wishes.

“I as president was doing my civic duty and giving the . . . association’s opinion of the situation in town,” Gilmore said.