Hawthorne Clerk Draws Fire on Card Club Campaign Role : Government: Critics say Dick Mansfield gave inappropriate help to backers of the ballot initiative, but he denies wrongdoing. One councilman wants him out.

Appointed amid controversy nine months ago, Hawthorne City Clerk Dick Mansfield continues to find himself on the hot seat.

Mansfield is drawing flak for helping supporters of the city’s recently defeated card club initiative and for publicly upbraiding residents who criticize him. At a recent council meeting, Councilman Larry Guidi asked him to resign.

The jousting comes 10 months after Mansfield’s predecessor, Patrick Keller, stepped down amid news that he had been living in Hawaii while holding the clerk’s post. Keller, the city clerk for more than 10 years, had been paid $600 a month.

Mansfield, whose appointment in March was criticized as politically motivated, says there is no reason for him to resign. “I have not done anything wrong and have no intention of resigning,” he said.

His critics argue that he should step down because he has hurt the reputation of the city and misused his position.

“I don’t think Mr. Mansfield has been professional as a city clerk,” Guidi said. “I don’t like the way he has attacked the public.”

Mansfield, a former Inglewood city councilman and a thrice-unsuccessful candidate for the Hawthorne council, has faced critics since the day he became clerk. Because he worked on Steve Andersen’s successful mayoral campaign in 1991, some criticized his appointment as clerk--in a 3-2 council vote in March--as quid pro quo.

Guidi and other opponents of Mansfield wanted a special election to fill the clerk’s post, but a majority of council members opposed such an election because it would have cost the city $15,000.

At issue currently are Mansfield’s efforts before the Nov. 3 elections on behalf of the Hawthorne Economic Improvement Committee--the group that led the unsuccessful fight for a card club in Hawthorne.

Basil Kimbrew, who was hired by the committee to conduct a voter registration drive, has accused Mansfield of helping the group set up a phone system at campaign headquarters.

The disclosure was an apparent attempt by Kimbrew to deflect criticism after it was discovered that some false registrations had been submitted, including the names of deceased Hawthorne residents. The district attorney’s office is investigating the matter.

Kathy Amato, a Hawthorne schoolteacher and treasurer for the committee that opposed the card club initiative, has also criticized Mansfield for helping to train Kimbrew’s employees on how to register voters.

“Training them was unethical and out of line,” Amato said.

Mansfield says he remained neutral in the card club campaign. He said he had been willing to help all groups--including the card club proponents--with voter registration in the interest of boosting participation in the elections.

“When I first got here registration was important and I kept track of it,” said Mansfield, who supported card club proposals while on Inglewood’s council. “The city was about 30% registered and I thought that was abominable, so I personally tried to make myself available to anyone that needed help.”

A retired telephone company employee, Mansfield said that while training Kimbrew’s employees, his ex-wife, Claire Griffin, asked him to help her fix some of the group’s phones. Griffin was campaign coordinator for the Improvement Committee.

“I happened to be there and she asked me to do it,” Mansfield said. “I would have done that for any other committee.” Mansfield has also drawn fire for publicly upbraiding his critics. Amato said Mansfield has verbally attacked her at council meetings for questioning him.

“What citizens can say to you in your capacity in public office and what you can say back are two different things,” Amato said. “If he can’t take criticism, he shouldn’t be in office.”

At council meetings, Amato has criticized Mansfield for failing to alert city leaders to dramatic increases in Hawthorne voter registration in April and May.

“There were as many as 600 (new voters registered) a day in May,” Amato said. “If he wasn’t unethical, he was incompetent.”

Mansfield says he did not see an unusual pattern in the increased voter registration. The numbers were similar to the large increase in voter registrations before the 1988 general election, he said.

“I had no reason to be alarmed,” he said. “The numbers were normal given the fact that it was a presidential (election) year.”