An end of an era is coming to Hawthorne politics this fall.
Larry Guidi, the city’s forceful and sometimes controversial mayor for nearly two decades, is not on the ballot in the Nov. 8 election.
Campaigning to succeed him are City Council members Danny Juarez and Alex Vargas – former political allies turned foes – and retired postal worker Dwan Fulwood, who has no experience in local politics.
http://liarcatchers.com/employee_investigations.html
Whoever wins will inherit a city that has been embroiled in financial and political turmoil for years.
Guidi, who has occupied the mayor’s seat since 1993, is facing felony theft charges for allegedly stealing a commercial food mixer while he worked as a warehouse manager for the Hawthorne School District
last year.
The city has had its share of run-ins with the law recently as well. The District Attorney’s Office investigated City Hall after it learned that an unlicensed private investigator was hired last summer to question employees. Hawthorne also is currently the target of a U.S. Housing and Urban Development audit because of financial irregularities and suspected missing money.
The city has lost two city managers in the past two years and passed its fiscal year budget four months late because of the ongoing financial problems.
Alex Vargas, 40, was first elected to the council in 2009 on a slate with Juarez and Councilwoman Angie English – a trio that opposed Guidi’s leadership. Vargas had been an outspoken activist in the city before his election and often butted heads with Guidi.
But, last year, Vargas apparently switched allegiances from Juarez to Guidi. Since then, he has received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from traditional Guidi donors to repay 2009 campaign debts.
Now he is running on a slate with two City Council candidates – his brother, John Vargas, and Olivia Valentine.
“Everyone is making this about Juarez versus Guidi but it’s not,”
Dwan Fullwood, candidate for Hawthorne mayor. Vargas said. “The last couple of years were not filled with happiness and harmony at City Hall. I believe in bringing people together and doing things right at City Hall.”
Vargas emphasized his networking abilities, and said he has befriended elected officials around the state. Those connections will help him get a wide perspective in leading Hawthorne, he said.
Vargas said he represents new ideas and a new vision for the city, specifically because he would try to unify the City Council and introduce programs to improve the abundance of healthy food in local schools and restaurants, among other things.
Vargas grew up in Hawthorne and worked as an aerospace engineer for 13 years. He is currently working as a substitute teacher and part-time college professor. He served as a civil service commissioner and he and his brother founded the North Hawthorne Community Association.
If elected, Vargas said he would try to make it easier for new businesses to move to the city, and he would support limiting the terms of the mayor and council members. He also would also support campaign contribution limits and other upgrades to ethics rules in the city.
Vargas raised nearly $22,000 for his campaign as of Sept. 24. Half of that came from a loan to himself and the rest came from individual donors, local and nonlocal businesses, and family members.
“What we need is a leader that will bring that passion and love for their city, to go out and move the city forward, who has the resources to do that and to do that with humility,” Vargas said.
Juarez, 58, has three children and was first elected to the City Council in 2007. Before that, he served as the city clerk for 12 years and as a Wiseburn school board member for eight years. He works as a business manager at Northrop Grumman.
His successes, he said, include balancing the budget every year without employee layoffs, reduced developer fees to entice new projects, improved communication through the city’s website and a new farmers market.
One of the city’s most visible problems is the long-vacant Hawthorne Plaza mall, which has deteriorated for years as the developer and City Council bickered over what should be built in its place. Council members have fought the developer’s proposal to build housing, along with stores and offices, on part of the site.
The former RFK Medical Center is another large, long-vacant property that has seemingly gone by the wayside as the city struggles to deal with ongoing staffing cuts and political turmoil.
Juarez’s leadership in the past two years has been controversial, as he led the three-person council majority that ousted former City Manager Jag Pathirana for unclear reasons. He and Vargas were also believed to be instrumental in the hiring of an unlicensed private investigator to dig into the background of employees last year.
Juarez said his role in those actions proves that he is able to make tough choices.
“I have a proven record. I had to do something that was very unpopular, but I cleaned house,” Juarez said. “One of the problems that we had in the past is we’ve given money away.”
Juarez raised $26,304 for this election by Sept. 24, largely from a personal loan, individual donors and both local and nonlocal businesses.
The third candidate in the race, Dwan Fulwood, 55, is relatively new to local politics. He has not reported raising any campaign funds, and is focused primarily on bringing medical marijuana dispensaries to the city.
“It’s 2011, not 1967, and there should be safe access for medical marijuana dispensaries in Hawthorne,” Fulwood said. “That would generate over $2 million.”
That money could be used to hire new police officers and have a senior trolly system, he said.
If elected, Fulwood said he would try to use the city’s eminent domain powers to get control of the Hawthorne Plaza mall property and develop it. He said he would like to see a casino and motel built at the former mall property.
“My whole philosophy is fun. We want to have fun,” Fulwood said. “We want to laugh, giggle, jump, bounce. I want to make this a destination city just like Las Vegas.”
