A Crush of Candidates for 3 Seats on City Council : Elections: Along with incumbents, the 18 contenders include former mayor, longtime activists and other officials. Many challengers attack $2-million funding of controversial business development program.

By JILL GOTTESMAN

Oct. 28, 1993 12 AM PT

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

LYNWOOD — The list of candidates for Tuesday’s City Council election reads like a Who’s Who of the city of Lynwood.

There’s the outspoken former mayor, a former local football hero, a former city building inspector, an ex-planning commissioner and a local motel owner who once headed the Chamber of Commerce. There are the two community activists who belong to more than a dozen local committees and commissions.

The city clerk and city treasurer have also entered the fray, along with a Compton Community College trustee. And all three incumbents are running again.

Altogether, there are 18 candidates, the biggest field ever, vying for three council seats in Tuesday’s election. Past council elections usually attracted four or five candidates at the most, officials said.

“There are so many of us that we can’t even fit in one room for a debate,” said candidate Margaret Araujo, a Lynwood school district aide. “But I think (the number of candidates) shows that the city is ready for a change in leadership.”

Because Lynwood has a history of low voter turnout, candidates could win with as few as 500 votes, said Assistant City Clerk Rita Manibusan. There are 12,000 registered voters in the city, which has 62,000 residents. Manibusan said she received fewer than a dozen requests for absentee ballots.

Councilwoman Evelyn Wells and Mayor Paul H. Richards II are seeking reelection but their current terms have been marked by controversy.

Wells, a financial supervisor at Lynwood High School, has been the object of rumors and innuendo since her estranged husband, Donald Morris, was gunned down in front of his home after alleging that Wells was having an affair with then-City Manager Laurence H. Adams Sr.

Wells and Adams denied that they were having an affair, and neither was considered a suspect in the slaying. On Wednesday, a Superior Court jury convicted Samuel Baxter, a former Lynwood graffiti-removal worker, of first-degree murder in the case.

Anonymous flyers circulating in the city have called Wells everything from an adulteress to an accessory to murder. Wells, who missed several council meetings and kept a low profile after the slaying, refused to comment on the case or the flyers. Observers said she is leaving much of the campaigning to her reelection committee.

Most candidates have refused to make the incident a campaign issue. “She is not on trial,” said candidate Shawn Omar Powell-Furillo, a former Lynwood High School football star who became a quadriplegic when he was injured in a game almost a decade ago.

Outspoken former Mayor Robert Henning is the exception.

“(Wells) should step back and let the city heal its wounds,” said Henning, who was narrowly defeated when he sought a third term in 1991. He believes the scandal is the biggest campaign issue. “It was an insult to the entire community and the biggest reason the people have lost confidence in their City Council.”

But Wells points out that she has been involved in several improvements in the city during her tenure, including a community transit center, affordable-housing projects, after-school child care and a senior citizens advisory board.

“I have been very responsive and accessible to the community,” she said. “All anyone has to do is let us know what he or she is concerned about, and we will try to fix it.”

Mayor Richards, who is seeking a third term, seems to be under the heaviest attack.

He has drawn fire for supporting a controversial business development program that received $2 million in city funds, including a $1.5 million interest-free loan. A Los Angeles Times investigation disclosed that at least $220,000 of the money for the Entrepreneurial Development Academy of California could not be accounted for.

Richards did not return phone calls to discuss the charges or his campaign. He has defended the academy throughout the controversy, saying the reports of questionable spending were misleading and that the press was “creating a story for itself.”

Some challengers also have criticized Richards for recruiting top Lynwood employees from Compton, where he is the assistant city manager.

“There’s been too much comingling between the cities,” said candidate Jack Keane, a retired city building inspector. He pointed out that two city managers “have been brought here from Compton and both left the city under a cloud.” One city manager, Michael Herriot, unexpectedly resigned last year after receiving a controversial $30,000 loan from the city’s general fund. His successor, Adams, was fired in June.

Councilman Armando Rea, who has been on the losing end of many 4-1 council votes, is seeking a second term. Rea, a sheriff’s deputy, said he wants to continue his self-appointed role as the council watchdog. “I make sure all the money is being well spent on behalf of the public,” he said.

Rea has joined forces with candidate Ada Candelario McZeal, a bookkeeper and council watchdog. Both said they want to make sure funds generated by the city’s 8% utility-users tax are used for the city’s parks and streets, and the Sheriff’s Department.

“We promised the people when we imposed the tax that it would be used for these things,” Rea said. “But the council allocated most of it to the Entrepreneurial Academy.”

The campaign pitches are almost as disparate as the candidates, but most of the challengers find fault with the council’s decision to pour $2 million into the academy, a program set up to provide free business training to residents.

Most said they would vote to shut down the academy.

“It is a disgraceful thing,” said Keane, the former building inspector. “It does not benefit Lynwood, and it’s not right.”

“They are spending too much money on things like (the academy) and the taxpayers don’t see the results,” said Araujo, who is also a member of various boards, including a gang diversion task force, a health care advisory board and the PTA. “It should be eliminated.”

Even Councilwoman Wells said she favors cutting off academy funding. “It’s a good concept, but we shouldn’t be paying for it anymore,” she said.

Challenger Patricia Carr described the program as “a total waste of money that hasn’t benefited taxpayers one bit.” But the community volunteer said she wouldn’t vote to eliminate the academy. “(I) hate to see all that money go out the door,” she said.

While controversies surrounding Wells and Richards take center stage, many candidates also have attempted to address meat-and-potatoes issues in the city. Some have pledged to increase law enforcement while others have made street improvements a key issue. Some have promised to have trees trimmed more often.

Kent Swift, a trustee at Compton Community College, wants to increase the number of sheriff’s patrols by eliminating most desk jobs and putting those officers on the streets. Motel owner Jim Morton suggests “cutting out the fat” in the city budget, and spending the money for more law enforcement.

William Lewis, a KNBC-TV engineer, has promised to focus on gang problems. He has suggested establishing programs that would create jobs for the city’s young people in an effort to keep them out of gangs.

The council will be taking up a staff suggestion that the city switch law enforcement agencies, dropping the Sheriff’s Department and hiring the South Gate Police Department to patrol Lynwood. The staff proposal contends that the city could reduce its $4.8-million annual law enforcement contract by making the change.

Wells said she would favor a change of law enforcement agencies only if the city can have its own police station. Richards and Rea, the sheriff’s deputy, have said they want to continue investigating the proposal, but it drew a cool response from most other candidates.

Former football hero Powell-Furillo said he wants to focus on bringing more businesses into the city. He said attracting a big-name department store or restaurant would not only provide jobs for young residents, but would increase the city’s tax base.

Also seeking council seats Tuesday are City Treasurer Iris Pygatt and Andrea L. Hooper, city clerk for 11 years. Others are accountant Lewis Dias; three-time council candidate and former Planning Commissioner Alberto Montoya Penalber; accountant Arturo Reyes, and Mark Anthony Flores, a city recreation assistant.

Lynwood City Council

On the ballot: Three City Council seats.

INCUMBENTS

Paul H. Richards II

Age: 37

Occupation: Assistant City Manager, Compton

Council member since 1985

Evelyn Wells

Age: 46

Occupation: Financial consultant

Council member since 1985

Armando Rea