Elections That Are Polls Apart : Race Heats Up in Beverly Hills, Growth Issue Dominates in Malibu, It’s Quiet in West Hollywood and a Spirited Contest in Culver City

Voters go to the polls in four Westside cities Tuesday to settle municipal races ranging from low-key to loud.

Culminating a quiet campaign, progressive West Hollywood could elect its first gay City Council majority in eight years. Malibu council candidates, meanwhile, have been debating--for the most part politely--how to retain what’s left of that city’s pastoral calm.

But in crime-conscious Beverly Hills, a former New York prosecutor has drawn fire from a police union as he tries to hold his council seat. And in Culver City, an unexpectedly spirited city clerk’s race centers on just how professional--and well-paid--the clerk’s job should be.

Beverly Hills

The most in-your-face campaign is taking place in Beverly Hills, where incumbent Councilman Robert K. Tanenbaum, the top vote-getter in two previous elections, is trying to stave off what may be his first serious challenge. The threats come from a committee whose sole purpose is to defeat him and from the city’s police union.

Tanenbaum, armed with $41,000 in campaign funds and an eight-year track record, is one of eight candidates competing for two seats.

Although few expect Tanenbaum to fall, he faces a determined group of detractors who previously tried to unseat him as president of the board of directors of the Beverly Hills Family Y. Now they hope to oust him from his council seat. The group had raised $6,100 for the effort--most of it from outgoing Mayor Maxwell Salter.

Salter, who declined to seek a third term, has accused Tanenbaum, a lawyer, of glossing over a deficit at the Y, which since 1987 has received about $226,000 in city grants. Tanenbaum has responded that charities have been very hard-hit by the recession and called it “almost miraculous” that the Y even stayed open.

Unwilling to let the issue rest until June, when the city reviews its grants to community groups, some former Y members and current board member Roger Cowan formed a campaign committee going beyond the Y issue to oppose Tanenbaum’s council bid. Cowan’s wife, Debra, who is the group’s treasurer, says: “The Y was simply a galvanizing issue.”

The group mailed out a letter last week from Beverly Hills Police Officers Assn. President Joseph Chirillo that was notable not so much for its endorsement of candidates MeraLee Goldman and Les Bronte as for its strong denunciation of Tanenbaum.

The union, which represents the city’s 128 police officers and usually backs incumbents, faults Tanenbaum for representing Sylvester Stallone after the actor became the subject of a Beverly Hills police investigation in April, 1991.

Stallone had been accused in West Hollywood of assaulting a photographer during a car chase that began in West Hollywood and ended in Beverly Hills, but the Los Angeles County district attorney never filed charges.

Tanenbaum denies any impropriety, saying he obtained an opinion from the Beverly Hills city attorney assuring him that it would not be a conflict of interest to represent Stallone while on the council. Tanenbaum says that he is dismayed that “during the heat of a political campaign, the (association) sees fit to play politics with people’s lives and misrepresent past events to fit political agendas.”

The former prosecutor has also angered the police union for campaign remarks that the union says belittled the department. Tanenbaum, the only candidate who opposes hiring more police, urged that the city “not add more police desk jockeys in suits,” suggesting instead that the department put more of its existing personnel on the streets.

Tanenbaum is so controversial that the other candidates have trouble getting any attention. However, Goldman, a former planning commissioner, Bronte, a former Chamber of Commerce president, and Alan Robert Block, a city schools’ activist, have all raised sums of money comparable to the $41,432 raised by Tanenbaum. They and the rest of the candidates in the race--Mary Levin Cutler, Bernard J. Hecht, Trisha Roth and Herm Shultz--all have agreed not to exceed a $60,000 limit set by the League of Women Voters.

Malibu

In Malibu, where two City Council seats are being contested, incumbents Walt Keller and John Harlow face four challengers in a decidedly tame campaign.

Throughout, the talk has been of how to control growth--a topic as dominant now as in the 1991 cityhood election and 1992 council race. Nearly every public forum has been dominated by debate of the draft general plan, the final version of which will guide the city’s overall development and will be presented for public comment in May.

Keller, who received the most votes in Malibu’s 1991 cityhood election, and challenger Tom Hasse are running on a slow-growth platform and have been endorsed by Mayor Carolyn Van Horn and anti-growth activists. They believe the draft general plan provides adequate--and not overly restrictive--restraints on the ability of single-family homeowners to develop their property.

By contrast, Harlow and challengers Jeff Jennings, both of whom were endorsed by Supervisor Ed Edelman along with Keller, fear that the draft plan is far too restrictive to single-family homeowners--and may, they say, adversely affect property values. Candidates Louis Ragsdale and Robert Stratman have voiced the same concerns over the plan.

It is unclear how much weight such objections would carry on the five-member council, however, because the three council members not up for election--Van Horn, Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Kramer and Joann House appear to favor a more restrictive general plan.

The council is scheduled to adopt a general plan in November. Public hearings on the draft plan are scheduled to start next month.

Culver City

In Culver City, voters will elect two candidates to the City Council, but the real drama has been in the race for the city clerk’s post. The contest has pitted a longtime incumbent against an activist seeking his first elected office.

The key issue is pay. Incumbent Clerk Pauline Dolce wants to keep her $75,000-a-year salary. Her opponent, Tom Crunk, supports a recent City Council decision to slash the salary to $732 a month, or about $9,000 a year. The council action would take effect in 1996.

Crunk, the first person to challenge Dolce in her 16-year tenure, says he would not wait until 1996 for the pay cut. He compares the clerk position to that of a part-time elected official, and considers the $75,000 salary unreasonably high.

Dolce says the clerk’s job requires a full-time professional to oversee elections, prepare meeting agendas, supervise the city’s accounting division and pay the city’s bills. A separate ballot measure before Culver City voters would shift accounting duties to the city treasurer.

The council race, meanwhile, centers on development issues.

While incumbent Mike Balkman points to progress in major downtown redevelopment, the challengers have said that the city is not doing enough to encourage business. Two of the candidates--Jim Hilfenhaus and Richard Marcus--say Balkman has broken his promises.

“(Balkman) had said he would do his best to lower taxes,” Marcus said. “But he proposed an 11% utility tax on cellular phones. . . . How do you encourage business by levying one more tax?”

Hilfenhaus criticized the council’s approval of the controversial Marina Place retail mall, an 18-acre lot that has yet to be developed. Hilfenhaus said he would hold more public meetings to solicit residents’ opinions of the project.

Challenger Ed Wolkowitz, a member of the Planning Commission, has attacked a proposal to have the city take over Southern California Edison’s Culver City operations. Such actions, he said, give the city a bad reputation in business circles.

West Hollywood

The candidates are not talking about what might be the most interesting feature of an otherwise lackluster West Hollywood City Council race.

The city, whose population is about one-third gay and lesbian, would have a gay council majority with a sweep of the three seats available. Gays have not dominated the council since 1986. Incumbent John Heilman, who is seeking reelection, is the council’s only openly gay member.

Nine of the 10 active candidates are gay, but there has been almost no talk of gay and lesbian issues.

Why?

With so many gay candidates, there is little political gain in emphasizing gay issues. A local cause with strong appeal to many gay voters--the creation of a city police force--is opposed by most of the council candidates. Candidates still worry about alienating heterosexual voters.

“There’s no such thing as a gay and lesbian parking problem,” says Steve Martin, a gay rights activist and rent commissioner who lost his last council bid in 1990.

Most candidates end the race as they began--emphasizing public safety above all other issues. The only other incumbent, Sal Guarriello, has played up his role as a fiscal watchdog.

The city’s key political endorsement, from the renters rights group Coalition for Economic Survival, went to Heilman and running mate Jeff Richmond, who heads the Planning Commission. Even though three seats are up for election, the group did not endorse a third candidate.

Campaign Cash

Chart shows fund-raising totals reported by candidates as of March 26: BEVERLY HILLS

City Council:

Robert K. Tanenbaum: $41,432

MeraLee Goldman: $41,052

Alan Robert Block: $39,664

Les Bronte: $33,552

Mary Levin Cutler: $20,218

Bernard J. Hecht: $9,325

Herm Shultz: $2,560

Trisha Roth: (Under $1,000) CULVER CITY

City Council:

Mike Balkman: $25,988

Ed Wolkowitz: $21,117

Richard Marcus: $9,418

Jim Hilfenhaus: $8,028

City Clerk:

Pauline Dolce: $13,246

Tom Crunk $10,908 MALIBU

City Council:

John Harlow: $18,476

Walt Keller: $14,727

Jeff Jennings: $13,965

Tom Hasse: $10,655

Louis Ragsdale: $2,036

Robert Stratman: (Not accepting donations) WEST HOLLYWOOD

City Council:

Jeff Richmond: $10,910

Steve Martin: $16,185

John Heilman: $12,304

Daniel J. Kovatch: $5,905

Timothy P. Olson: $5,536

Michael W. Radcliffe: $ 5,443

Steven S. Chapman: $1,911

Sal Guarriello: $1,550

Burton Cutler: (None reported)

Christopher S. Dietrich: (None reported)

Christopher Patrouch: (None reported)

BEVERLY HILLS CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

Alan Robert Block

Age: 47, Attorney

Les Bronte

Age: 58, Business executive

Mary Levin Cutler

Age: 60, Investor

MeraLee Goldman

Age: 60, Planner

Bernard J. Hecht

Age: 70, Retired

Trisha Roth

Age: 48, Pediatrician

Herm Shultz

Age: 71, Retired

Robert K. Tannenbaum

Age: 51, Trial lawyer

MALIBU CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

Tom Haase

Age: 33, Graduate student

John Harlow

Age: 63, Retired

Jeff Jennings

Age: 50, Attorney

Walt Keller

Age: 63, Retired engineer

Luis Ragsdale

Age: 72, Real estate agent

Robert Stratman

Age: 71, Retired educator

CULVER CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

Jim Hilfenhaus

Age: 43, Political organizer

Ed Wolkowitz

Age: 44, Attorney

Mike Balkman

Age: 40, Businessman

(photo not available)

Richard Marcus

Age: 39

Controller

CITY CLERK CANDIDATES IN CULVER CITY

Pauline Dolce

Age: 73, City clerk

Tom Crunk

Age: 37, Computer consultant

CULVER CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

Burton Cutler

Age: 45, Transportation consultant

Christopher S. Dietrich

Age: 39, Clerk. writer

Sal Guarriello

Age: 74, Retired

John Heilman

Age: 36, Law professor

Daniel J. Kovatch

Age: 29, Sales supervisor

Steve Martin

Age: 39, Attorney

Timothy P. Olson

Age: 33, Financial director

Christopher Patrouch

Age: 32, Shopkeeper

Michael W. Radcliffe

Age: 50, Retired

Jeff Richmond

Age: 32, Attorney

Steven S. Chapman

(suspended campaign but is on ballot)

photo not available.