Describing their actions as “political shenanigans,” Jim Dear, former long-time mayor of Carson, who on March 3 was elected city clerk, filed an exparte notice of intent to file a lawsuite earlier this week asking a judge to declare a special city council meeting held Friday, illegal.
Dear was set to ask the judge to stay the actions of the council or place a temporary injunction against the body. He was also going to request that he be reinstated and allowed to finish the election process that he had been engaged in since the conclusion of the June 2 special election, to replace former City Councilman Mike Gipson.
Gipson was elected to the State Assembly in November 2014.
Dear claimed the meeting on Friday was illegal because there was no notice that one of the three remaining councilmembers would be present only on the phone. Consequently, there was no legal quorum to make decisions.
During that special meeting, two of the three city council members attended in person—Albert Robles and Lula Davis-Holmes—and councilmember Elito M. Santarina attended via telephone from the emergency room at Torrance Memorial Hospital. He had been scheduled to attend in person but was forced to take his wife to the emergency room.
During that meeting, which was held on a day when the city is typically closed, the city council voted 2-1 to remove Dear as the city election official, and replace him by appointing Charles Davis, former City Clerk of Compton.
According to Santarina, Dear was removed because of allegations that the election would be faulty. Santarino said he opposed the action and questioned why there was a presumption that the long-time Carson politician would conduct a faulty election.
Santarino also said that when he heard a motion made to appoint Jawane R. Hilton to another vacant seat on the council rather than wait for the results of a second count (of provisional ballots), he immediately left the Friday special meeting.
At a regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, the council relented, and allowed Dear to complete the second count. They also withdrew the motion to appoint Hilton. Unofficially Hilton defeated second place candidate Jesus Alex Cainglet 2,557 to 2,539.
With all the ballots officially counted, Dear must now certify the election and present the results to the council for its approval.
“This is my first city council election, and I want it to be honorable and very transparent,” said Dear.
