Council's whisper campaign hits airwaves

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press October 29, 2000

By BOB WILSON
Valley Press Staff Writer

PALMDALE - It's something that is as much a part of hotly contested campaigns as slate mailers and candidates' forums. You know it when you see it. Mudslinging.

Some mudslinging is offensive in nature, like an infantry assault. One candidate or group attacks another candidate or group. Or, the group on the defensive slings some mud back, and everybody involved finally gets down and dirty.

Each candidate has his own positive reasons for running, but when the field narrows, in the game of hardball, political gamesmen look for a spitball - or maybe a mudball - to gain an advantage.

In this Palmdale City Council election, political activists interested in defeating candidate John Mayfield for the three-year term have engaged in a campaign of systematic tips and provided planted information designed to harm the political prospects of the veteran Planning Commission member.

It began as a whisper campaign, and now is broadcast on the airwaves.

Lancaster-based political activists who support the council candidacies of businessman Rick Norris and local attorney Richard Loa have consistently planted information with the Valley Press about Mayfield's financial problems, including mortgage defaults, evictions, tax liens and a 5-year-old misdemeanor arrest for driving under the influence.

This week, radio began airing an ad that takes note of Mayfield's arrest and conviction. The ad is fielded by the Norris campaign.

By way of retort, radio ads for Mayfield and council candidate Jim Root take note that campaign material for Loa, Norris and a host of other candidates is produced by a felon convicted of child molestation eight years ago.

In recent weeks, local businessman and political activist Frank Visco called a reporter, asking if such information about candidate Mayfield would be of interest to readers. Within hours, it was forthcoming.

The information is accurate. Such information calculated to cause political damage often is accurate. Then, candidates must attempt to demonstrate its relevance to the current contest.

Supplied separately by Norris's supporters was information showing that Mayfield was convicted on July 26, 1995, of driving while under the influence of less than .08% blood alcohol, a misdemeanor for which the candidate served three days in county jail and was ordered to pay $1,574 in fines and court costs.

Mayfield said he fell short of cash to pay the entire fine in January 1996 and requested an extension, which was granted but with a fine increase of $105. The entire fee was paid 23 days before the extension terminated, he said.

Mayfield said, for his part, that he is running based on his record of service to Palmdale over many years on the Planning Commission.

He said he feels such attacks, even in the heat of a campaign, are underhanded and ruthless.

"It's kind of scary that individuals who are either officers of the court or friends of those officers can get this information and use it to intimidate their opponents," Mayfield said.

"Are these the tactics they're going to use when they are elected to the council and people disagree with them?" he asked.

Citing his military record, Mayfield said, "This is what I spent 21 years in the service for, with tours in Vietnam and North Africa, to keep people from having to live under leaders that persecute anyone who disagrees with them," he said.

Of his own errors, shortcomings and conviction, Mayfield said he is contrite.

Of his financial problems, Mayfield confirmed that he fell behind in payments after being laid off from an Agoura-based electronics firm that lost its government contracts with large aerospace firms.

What the paperwork provided by Mayfield's detractors failed to show was that two of his four eviction notices stemmed from a dispute with a landlord who failed to maintain the property. Mayfield added, "I took that fellow to court and won the case."

Job loss

The loss of his job spurred him to expand his home-based bookkeeping, payroll and income-tax service into a full-time business in downtown Palmdale, Mayfield said.

At the time, clients were hard to come by because many other Antelope Valley residents were hit by the same aerospace layoffs, he said. As a result, "We weren't able to make all our payments on time.

"That's why I'm so passionate about bringing new jobs up to the AV that aren't aerospace-related," Mayfield said. "I know from personal experience what it's like to be 'downsized' and not be able to do anything about it.

"Palmdale is where I chose to start my business, and I didn't give up."

Mayfield added that despite his run-ins with creditors and the law, thrown stones can travel two directions politically.

"It was a mistake," he continued. "I pleaded no contest and continued to serve as chairman of the city Planning Commission. It's not nearly as bad as purchasing political advertising space from a convicted child molester, like my opponent."

Mayfield referred to Norris's participation in the California Voter Guide, a slate mailer run by Timothy M. Carey. Carey's mailers include the names of many prominent area politicians, including Assemblyman George Runner, RLancaster, and state Sen. Pete Knight, R-Palmdale.

Carey, 42, a seasoned political operative who also plays hardball, pleaded no contest in 1992 to three felony counts of committing lewd acts upon a 12-year-old San Pedro girl.

The contract campaign worker was sentenced to 180 days in county jail, community service and five years' probation. As a convicted sex offender, he must inform authorities of his current address and is registered in the Megan's Law computers available to the public at local police and sheriff's stations.

Loa also has purchased space from Carey on the California Voter Guide, as have 1,180 other candidates and ballot-measure proponents across the state as of Sept. 30.

Many candidates - including Loa and Norris - questioned about their campaign business dealings with Carey respond that they were unaware of his criminal record.

Loa, an alternate public defender, also noted it is impossible to know the criminal background of everyone a candidate obtains goods and services from.

Loa said he would personally check into the matter of Carey's background, adding, "I was just told to write a check."

This past week, Norris said he will provide the Valley Press with a letter asking Carey to withdraw his name from inclusion on the California Voter Guide. Whether his name could be removed at this date might make the gesture moot.

Corrales assailed

Political foes of candidate Sandy Corrales - many in the same group that oppose Mayfield - have sought to associate Corrales with Diana Beard-Williams, another local political pot-stirrer who was fired from her job as director of publicity for the Palmdale School District.

The papers provided by Norris' backers showed Corrales and her husband, Randy Houghton, live in a home owned by Beard-Williams and her husband, Allen Williams, who sometimes goes by the name of Allen Brown.

The papers also showed that while Beard-Williams and her husband currently reside in another home on the west side of the city, they are still registered as voters at the Corrales' address.

When asked whether BeardWilliams was involved in any of their campaigns, all four candidates seeking the three-year seat - Norris, Mayfield, Corrales and bus operator Joe Rivera Jr. - said no.

"I haven't talked to her in two years," Corrales stated. "But you have to wonder, from looking at the Root/Mayfield flier that came out, a lot of people that were featured prominently in that brochure are obviously her supporters."

What the association with Beard-Williams is supposed to demonstrate is unclear.

"Those are your friends, too, Sandy," countered Mayfield, noting that some sat with Corrales on the board of directors of the Palmdale Education Foundation, which Beard-Williams also served on before her firing.

"(They) were my friends," until she voted with a majority to terminate Beard-Williams from her role with the foundation, Corrales emphasized.

"This is America," Mayfield said. "If somebody wants to support me, and they believe in what I believe in, then I want their support if they're going to help me move that program forward."

Pressed for details, Corrales said she and Houghton "have a landlord agreement" with BeardWilliams' husband but reiterated she has no political connection or business ties to Beard-Williams herself.

War and peace officers

Norris and Loa also berated Mayfield and Root for a mailer that indicated they are the candidates preferred by local law enforcement officers.

The mailer included a letter endorsing Mayfield from Roger Mayberry, president of Local 612 of the International Union of Police Associations, as well as testimonials from a number of Palmdale deputies and citizen reservists.

Deputy Ronald Smith, a representative of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, appeared with Norris and Loa to denounce the Mayfield/Root mailer as misleading because it featured the image of a badge similar to those worn by sheriff's deputies.

That image, along with the words "Palmdale's sheriffs and law enforcement agencies endorse Jim Root and John Mayfield for City Council," imply the endorsement of the Sheriff's Department, which the department cannot give, Smith said.

"It's a misuse of the law enforcement agencies. It's incorrect; it's improper," Loa claimed.

Norris labeled the mailer as "very deceptive" and a "flagrant lie."

The board of directors of ALADS, which makes endorsement decisions for that deputies' union, has given its nod to Loa and Norris, Smith said.

In the past, ALADS officials have refused to discuss how those endorsements are reached, declining to reveal the number of deputies polled or the percentage of membership those polled represented.

Critics of ALADS - including former members who have turned to a competing union, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Professional Association - have claimed ALADS' Antelope Valley political endorsements do not represent union rank and file.

"That (opinion) hasn't changed much," said LASPA President Alex Villanueva, whose group has attracted nearly 20% of the department's workforce.

ALADS's membership still represents about 60% of the workforce, but its officials do not poll members for opinions on endorsements, Villanueva said.

Mayfield contended the piece is not deceptive in light of its testimonials.

"They are all Palmdale sheriffs, Palmdale people for Palmdale," Mayfield said. Of the mailer's depiction of badges, "Those are the badges those individuals wear."

Mayfield conceded the mailer should have said the endorsements were from law enforcement "personnel" instead of "agencies."

Some of the see-sawing back and forth in the campaign flows from the antagonism between Palmdale's popular Mayor Jim Ledford and opposition to his leadership by the equally popular Assemblyman George Runner, the Lancaster lawmaker whose support is spread across the Valley.

Ledford weighed in with his own criticism, accusing Norris of sending out mailers "that give voters the impression that either I endorse him or that I support some of his political positions."

"For the record, I am a supporter of Jim Root and John Mayfield," the mayor said. "I am a staunch supporter of home rule, which Rick is not, because he is backed by the same Lancaster guard that tried to take control of Palmdale during the last election."

Attendance at issue

In the one-year council seat race, questions about Root's fitness to serve were raised by Loa. During a candidate forum, Loa read from prepared material asserting Root missed 27% of the regular and special council meetings slated during his last year in office, 1997.

Root missed one meeting in December 1996, two meetings in April, one in May, one in June and two in July, Loa said.

"If the council is setting a session, it is the obligation of the elected official to be there," Loa said. "That's what I intend to do."

Root said Loa's information was the same as that obtained in 1997 by former Councilwoman Shelley Sorsabal, who was backed by some of the same Lancaster-based activists who now back Loa.

Root pointed out that during his eight years on the council, he missed eight of the council's regular and special meetings between April 1990 and November 1997, for an overall attendance rate of 88%.

Two of those eight meetings were missed so he could visit a brother who was dying of cancer, he said.

"I think if you look at just the regularly scheduled meetings, the attendance rate was well over 90%," Root said. "Don't just bring up one year. Bring up all eight years, Richard," he advised his opponent.

"I think it's interesting that you use information that's just handed to you, and you don't know what you're looking at," Root continued. "I'm not sure we need that kind of wisdom on the council."

No dirty laundry

To date, no dirty laundry has been dragged out concerning the other three candidates in the oneyear race: Matthew Van Dyk, Alan Lee Jr. and Jason Zink.

Van Dyk has yet to attend public forums explaining his interest in running for office, or his goals if elected.

At one of those forums, Lee said the council election should be about ideas, not dirt.

"Mudslinging has its place in politics, and I've got to tell you this: I've have had some unsolicited negative information shared with me about Richard (Loa); I've had some negative information shared with me about Jim (Root) ... and I'm assuming vice-versa," he said. "But in the great scheme of things, that's much ado about nothing."

Lee said he had heard nothing about Zink but challenged Loa to acknowledge the fact that he obtained his information about Root from Lancaster's politically smart set.

Loa instead reiterated his independence, adding that he was proud of his business and political affiliations.

According to Valley Press archives, Zink got his first taste of public office in November 1991, when he was elected at age 19 to a one-year term on the Littlerock Town Council.

He was elected to a two-year term on the Littlerock panel in November 1992, but was voted off for allegedly threatening to strike another member with a metal folding chair in July 1993.

Zink campaigned unsuccessfully for a seat on the Antelope Valley Union High School District board of trustees in November 1993. He won a new term on the Littlerock council in November 1994.

During the November 1996 Littlerock council election, he was accused of illegally stationing himself too close to polling sites in order to encourage write-in votes. The council declined to call a new election and also declined to seat Zink as a member after questions were raised about his residency.

In November 1997, Zink lost a bid for a seat on the board of directors of the Littlerock Irrigation District. That same month, he engaged in a physical confrontation with Littlerock Town Council president Marlene Mallory, who was recalled in March 1998 and barred from seeking re-election to the panel in June 1998.

Zink sued Mallory for injuries allegedly sustained during the November 1997 fracas, winning $1,500 from Mallory on a television court show.

With election a little more than a week off, the question is whether voters will respond to candidates' campaigns of ideas, or the mud that gets sprayed in the heat of the fray.