Election’s Over, but Not the Flyer Fracas : Politics: Jerry Westlund threatens legal action over two women who left leaflets at his house. He takes heat for his own flyer, titled ‘Gay Activists Assault Westlund.’

LONG BEACH —  When it comes to political flyers, Charles G. (Jerry) Westlund just can’t seem to escape controversy--whether he is the author or the target of them.

First he was condemned by political opponents for the mailers he distributed during his failed campaign against Long Beach City Councilman Thomas Clark. Then Westlund clashed with two women distributing leaflets, chased them into Orange County, and filed a police complaint against them two days before the election.

Westlund contended that the women were “militant gay activists” and accused them of trying to break into his house the evening of May 31 with a handful of flyers disputing his statements about the Long Beach Gay Pride Festival.

When they drove away, he pursued them in his car to Los Alamitos, yelling at drivers with car phones to call the police. They all came to a stop in a parking lot, where Los Alamitos police joined the scene--having received two calls about the chase, including warnings that the pair might have a gun.

When police found no weapon, they referred the matter to the Long Beach police. Westlund filed a criminal-trespass complaint with the department, alleging that one of the women had broken his screen-door knob trying to get into his house.

But the city prosecutor’s office declined to press charges last week, finding insufficient evidence, according to Long Beach police. Detective Desmond Pressley, who investigated Westlund’s complaint, said the door was only a couple of steps from the sidewalk.

Moreover, Pressley noted Westlund’s property was not posted against trespassers. He added that he did not examine the screen door.

Police declined to release the names of the women. Pressley said that the woman who approached Westlund’s door told police she had been distributing handbills in the neighborhood, didn’t know the house was Westlund’s and, at first, didn’t realize he was following her. She told police she never left the sidewalk and tossed her remaining flyers at Westlund’s door because they were all she had left.

Westlund was irate when informed by a reporter Thursday that the city prosecutor’s office was not pressing charges. He vowed to take the case to the district attorney or even the attorney general’s office and also said the city prosecutor’s office should be eliminated.

“There’s no respect for the law in this town. It’s all politics,” Westlund fumed, contending the case would not have been dropped if the incident had involved a gay candidate.

“If I was a gay candidate and some rednecks had come along and done this, it would have been a front-page story. . . . As far as I’m concerned, it was a hate crime,” Westlund declared.

Westlund, who was defeated by Clark in Tuesday’s election, made a campaign issue of Clark’s support by gay groups. The flyer handed out by the two women rebutted statements attributed to Westlund--that city funds had been used to sponsor the Long Beach Gay Pride Festival.

Westlund responded with his own flyer Monday night, the eve of the election, in which he called last Sunday’s incident an assault.

“Gay Activists Assault Westlund,” declared the headline of the leaflet. It continued:

“Militant Gay & Lesbian activists were apprehended & questioned for criminal trespass on Sunday as they attempted to break into the home of Long Beach City Council Candidate Jerry Westlund. . . . Whether the money is given directly or laundered through other groups--tax funds should not be used to hold a party for homosexuals or any other special interest group.”

The wording angered gay-rights advocates, who said it revealed Westlund as a homophobic bigot.

“He really let it all out,” said Jack Newby, a member of the Southland Political Action Committee, a Long Beach-area group that promotes gay rights. “That last flyer told us who he really is.”

Westlund denies that he is anti-gay. “I’m not homophobic, nor am I a gay-basher,” he said.