Controversies taint Lakewood incumbent
Critics point to Steve Croft's handling of the no-confidence vote of DA Gascon and a suspicious election map.
By Brian Maquena
May 23, 2022 (Story published earlier in the May 21-22, 2022, northwest Lakewood print edition.)
If there’s one thing the two outside candidates have in common, it’s that they didn’t like how Mayor Steve Croft handled redistricting in fall 2021.
“A lot of people didn’t like the way it went,” Laura Sanchez Ramirez said.
Disclaimer: The Lakewood Populist is endorsing Gregory Slaughter for district 2.
During Lakewood’s redistricting, Croft snubbed a Council guideline by giving a Council district to an unelected appointee. He also tried to keep east Lakewood’s district 5 from voting this year, ostensibly in the name of helping minorities even though district 5 is one of Lakewood’s most diverse areas.
Slaughter then-described Croft as a slick politician.
Croft was able to safeguard his seat and his appointee, Councilwoman Vicki Stuckey, by forcing two elected Council Members into the same district. One of these, Councilman Ariel Pe, had vowed that he would fight to stay on Council, raising eyebrows when he voted for Croft’s proposed map.
Croft could have avoided controversy by choosing one of the two other proposed maps that didn’t violate Council’s own guidelines. Stuckey was never “previously elected by the voters” and so the protection of her seat wasn’t under such guidelines.
A group called Lakewood Forward was able to gather signatures in support of east Lakewood getting to vote this year for a Council Member. The area has never in this writer’s knowledge had one of its own as a sitting Council Member.
Consequently, Stuckey was not eligible to run this year due to her district 4—mostly between Palos Verde Avenue and the 605 Freeway—being relegated to 2024 instead. Yet this meant district 4 would not have one of its own as a sitting Council Member for two years, something which could had been avoided by any of the other two maps following Council’s guidelines.
Croft’s other appointee, Veronica Lucio of the Parks & Community Services Commission, is running for district 5.
Gascon & “The Purge” in Lakewood crimes
Council readily admits it took its time passing a no-confidence vote against District Attorney George Gascon, whose lax prosecution policies most blame for the public safety crisis.
“Lakewood is not a knee-jerk community,” said Croft at a March 8 Council meeting, defending Council’s decision to delay a no-confidence vote. “We try to meet with the responsible people to reason with them.”
The city and its presenter defended Council’s decision to not pass a no-confidence vote against Gascon till after dozens had already done so. This may have been done in response to many social media comments that criticized Council for having not taken a no-confidence vote months earlier like dozens of other cities.
“Some of those cities took no-confidence votes early, but really did not have the significant and meaningful engagement that Lakewood City Council has,” said City Manager Thaddeus McCormack at the meeting.
Eric Siddall, vice president of the L.A. Association of Deputy District Attorneys, also spoke via online video in praise of Council’s long wait.
“Much like your city did not just immediately jump on the anti-Gascon bandwagon, we didn’t either,” he said after noting that Gascon’s December 2020 directives were “basically the legalization of certain types of crimes.”
Yet at the end of the meeting, a Lakewood resident begged Council for help, saying masked hooligans were taking over his suburban streets, smashing a car without fear.
He had video that he described as resembling “The Purge” films.
TV news outlets caught wind of the story due to the Lakewood Populist recording the resident’s speech as McCormack has long stopped the televising of Council’s public comments segment. The result was a $400,000 public safety program & private security guards.
Slaughter is not a fan of the private security guard option, having dealt with such guards while as a Santa Monica Police Department officer. He has proposed using volunteer reserve deputies instead, writing an editorial in support of his idea. Ramirez has also come out in support of looking into utilizing reserve deputies.
However, longtime Councilman Todd Rogers has criticized the idea of using reserve deputies. Slaughter has rejected the criticism and points to how he started his career as a volunteer reserve officer in Compton.
Publisher’s note: We have used the records of the two Council incumbents running this year—Steve Croft and Todd Rogers—to speak for them since the Lakewood Populist has covered both men in-depth since spring 2021. The Lakewood Populist will do a follow-up article on both looking into reasons many support them: namely, balanced budgets and maintained city infrastructure.
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