Although incumbent Sam Edgerton stretched his lead for the second-place spot in Hermosa Beach’s City Council election, just 12 votes ahead of candidate Howard Fishman, the race is still too close to call.

Edgerton attributes the close election to a series of three hit mailers sent out to homes over Halloween weekend partially funded and designed by political campaign consultant and former council candidate Fred Huebscher.

Edgerton believes he lost hundreds of votes in the Nov. 4 election because of the mailers he claims are libelous in nature. As a result, he plans on filing a lawsuit against Huebscher and former City Councilman Roger Creighton for defamation of character and conspiracy to commit libel.

“They are all a bunch of lies, and Huebscher is starting to look and sound like a political hit man,” said Edgerton. “I think he is a hired gun, somebody is paying him and I question who it is. I’m going to try and file something this week. It’s a done deal. I let this guy get away with it last time (1999 election) because he was a candidate in the race, but not this time.”

Edgerton, who is a lawyer and co-owns a firm based in Hermosa Beach, believes the three 8-inch by 11-inch glossy color mailers may have been sent out to between 3,000 to 9,000 households. A campaign committee calling itself Citizens for a Better Hermosa Beach sent out two of the mailers and Edgerton believes they may have cost him approximately 250 votes.

Huebscher had no comment on which three mailers he had a hand in, how much they cost to produce or how many were sent out in town.

According to recent city campaign statements, both Huebscher and Creighton are members of the committee and lent it $5,000 and $1,000, respectively, for the mailers.

According to a Nov. 6 article in the Daily Breeze, Huebscher contributed the money and designed the artwork for the mailers. When asked to respond to what Edgerton contends are misleading and libelous statements, Huebscher had no comment.

According to one of the mailers, “Edgerton opposed placing a ballot measure before the voters to make the Pier Avenue plaza bars pay their fair share of police protection.” The mailer attributes this statement to City Council minutes dated July 22, 2003.

During its July 22 meeting, the City Council rejected the proposal to place an initiative on this year’s November ballot to increase the city’s business license tax as a way of generating more revenues to balance its future budgets. The city proposed raising taxes as a way to generate revenues to balance its budget that could experience a shortfall exceeding $1 million.

One of the most significant rate increases associated with the measure would have been to change the fixed rate for restaurants and bars to a rate proportional to individual gross receipts. Edgerton said he voted against it because he felt raising taxes was not a solution to balancing the city’s budget.

“This allegation is idiotic because it cannot be done,” said Edgerton. “We cannot impose such a tax, which is called a tippler tax, at the local level. Such a tax has to be done at the state level.”

The mailer also states, “Edgerton refuses to disclose on his financial disclosure forms (required by law) whether any Hermosa Beach bars and restaurants are clients of his law firm.”

According to Edgerton, his firm, which represents securities broker dealers and stockbrokers, does not represent any restaurants or any business in Hermosa Beach.

“I did not refuse to answer any question of any form as to whether I have restaurants or bar clients in town. There was no such question asked,” said Edgerton. “But the Huebscher lie notwithstanding, the answer is that I have no clients in Hermosa Beach of any kind. Although I like restaurants just fine, it is not part of my business clientele.”

Another mailer states, “Fact: Edgerton is the only council member or city employee who has free city paid health insurance for his wife and three children. Unlike city employees who must pay for this insurance, you are paying for Mr. Edgerton’s $12,000-plus health insurance policy.”

According to Edgerton, every City Council member currently takes some form of health benefit.

“If any one of them tells you otherwise, simply call the city manager and confirm what is a public record of their benefits,” said Edgerton. “The only reason that my benefit is higher is because I am the only current councilman with dependent children.”

Edgerton also suspects fellow candidate Charlie Cheatham hired Huebscher in the recent campaign, a claim Huebscher denies.

“I was never paid one cent by Mr. Cheatham or his campaign,” he said. “I only looked over some of his campaign materials.”

The county has until Nov. 24 before certifying the official election results. The results are unofficial until all absentee votes and provisional votes that may be circulating are counted. Absentee votes from military personnel overseas or that have been postmarked later in the election are still being counted, along with provisional votes which are votes that are contested. These votes usually come in the form of those people whose names are not listed on official voting records and need to be further researched before the vote is considered valid.