Special Election Set for October

Inglewood City Council candidates Ervin (Tony) Thomas and Garland Hardeman, who fought a two-year legal battle to the state’s highest court over their 1987 election contest, will meet again in a special election Oct. 3 to decide who will fill the city’s vacant District 4 seat.

The special election, approved by the Inglewood City Council last week and expected to cost about $10,000, was ordered by a Superior Court judge in October, 1987, after Hardeman alleged election law violations in the Thomas campaign.

Although the judge’s ruling annulled Thomas’ narrow victory and ordered him to step down pending a new election, Thomas held onto the seat until last week’s council meeting when appeals were exhausted.

Hardeman said he plans to ask the court to force the city and Thomas to pay his legal fees, which he said total $200,000.

Mayor Edward Vincent, a Thomas ally who was accused of intimidating voters during the 1987 campaign, said after Tuesday’s council meeting that he will remain neutral in the race.