Ernest E. Debs

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Ernest E. Debs
13th district
In office
July 1, 1947 – December 1, 1958
Preceded byJohn R. Roden
Succeeded byJames Harvey Brown
Member of the California State Assembly
from the 56th district
In office
January 4, 1943 – June 30, 1947
Preceded byNorris Poulson
Succeeded byGlenard P. Lipscomb
Personal details
Born
Ernest Eugene Debs

(1904-02-07)February 7, 1904
Toledo, Ohio
DiedMarch 17, 2002(2002-03-17) (aged 98)
Indian Wells, California
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseLorene Marsh Robertson

Ernest Eugene Debs

Los Angeles city councilman from 1947 to 1958 and a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
from 1958 to 1974.

Biography

Debs was born in

box car when he was 20 to work in the motion picture industry as a dancer. He was also a salesman.[1] "He had no college education and prided himself on being a self-made man," the Los Angeles Times reported in his obituary.[2] Debs married Lorene Marsh Robertson of Placerville, California, in 1944; they had two adopted children, David and Catherine Clare. They lived at 2416 McCready Avenue in the Silver Lake district.[3][4][5]

He was not related to Eugene V. Debs, the labor leader and Socialist candidate for president. He said in 1947:

We're not even remotely related. I am often asked the question, however, and generally it brings up the subject of my party affiliations and general philosophy of government. Well, I guess I'd be called a conservative Democrat. I was elected to the Assembly on both the Republican and Democratic tickets. Definitely I'm against radicals and Communists. At the same time I think the little fellow should get a square deal—I'm for that, too.[6]

Debs, a resident of Indian Wells, Riverside County, at the time, died at the age of 98 on March 17, 2002. He was survived by his wife, Betty Debs; and children David Debs, Candi Debs, Stan Grant, Lonnie Gordon and Nancy Martel. A memorial service was held in the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration.[7]

Public service

Congress

Debs ran unsuccessfully for the Congressional seat in the 17th District in 1932. Nineteen years later, in the context of a heated City Council reelection campaign, he was accused by Walter C. Smith, an executive with

Lockheed Aircraft, of having registered as a Socialist in both 1930 and 1931 and to have favored "government ownership of public utilities" during the 1932 campaign.[8]

State Assembly

Debs gave up show business to become a

City Council

Debs (center) and L. E. Timberlake surrounded by Sennett Bathing Beauties (LA Daily News, 1949)
Debs displaying horror and crime comic books purchased in his district (LA Daily News, 1954)

Elections

Debs first ran for the

District 13 seat in an area that extended westward to Vermont Avenue and south to Valley Boulevard;[11] he beat incumbent John R. Roden
in the runoff vote. He had no opponent in 1949, and he won reelection in the 1951 and 1953 primaries. He had no opponent in 1957.

Positions

Incinerator, 1947. After an explosion at the controversial city incinerator at Avenue 21 and Lacy Street, Debs pushed through a resolution calling for an investigation into the circumstances of letting the contract.[12]

Psychiatrist, 1949. Debs was in the forefront of a City Council move against J. Paul de River, the only Los Angeles Police Department psychiatrist at the time, whose activities during the Black Dahlia murder case were said to have resulted in the arrest of two men later released for lack of evidence.[13][14] He criticized de River for having written a "luridly illustrated" book on criminal sex cases, using Police Department files as source material. "The book is filthy and shocking," said Debs, "an obvious attempt to pander to depraved tastes."[15]

Heaters, 1957. He called for the investigation of what he said were 3,000 to 4,000 unvented gas heaters installed in the city schools.[16]

Board of Supervisors

Debs was elected to the county Board of Supervisors in 1958, representing the 3rd District. As County Supervisor, he chaired 13 major departments, and served on many committees.[citation needed]

During the

Century City as a premium office market, Debs' plans for the Strip were only partly realized.[17]

He appointed the final three members to the nine-member

Legacy

Two public parks bear the Debs name:

  1. Ernest E. Debs Regional Park — in the western San Rafael Hills above the Arroyo Seco, in the Montecito Heights neighborhood of central-northeast Los Angeles.
  2. Ernest Debs Park — in Bell (southeastern L.A. County).

References

  1. ^ a b "Eighty-Nine File in Council Race," Los Angeles Times, March 26, 1931, page A-1
  2. ^ a b Kenneth Reich, "Ernest E. Debs, 98; County Supervisor for 16 Years," March 19, 2002
  3. ^ Location of the Debs residence on Mapping L.A.
  4. ^ Los Angeles Public Library reference file
  5. ^ Norma H. Goodhue, "Mrs. Debs Leads Dynamic Life of Service, Interests," Los Angeles Times, January 27, 1958, page A-3
  6. ^ "Ernest E. Debs No Relation to Eugene V. Debs," Los Angeles Times, May 27, 1947, page 5
  7. ^ Funeral notice, Los Angeles Times, March 24, 2002
  8. ^ a b "Foe of Debs Hits His Past Political Ties," Los Angeles Times, March 25, 1951, page 39
  9. ^ "Mrs. Debs Leads Dynamic Life of Service, Interests," Los Angeles Times, January 27, 1958, page 3
  10. ^ "Political Fur Flies at Finish," Los Angeles Times, June 2, 1929, page 2
  11. ^ "Proposed New Alignment for City Voting Precincts," Los Angeles Times, November 30, 1940, page A-3 Includes a map.
  12. ^ "Council Orders Full Investigation of Incinerator Following Explosion," Los Angeles Times, December 13, 1947, page A-1
  13. ^ "Dr. De River Crime Work Under Fire," Los Angeles Times, January 22, 1949, page 4
  14. '^ "Police Force's Psychiatrist to Be Investigated," Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1949, page 4
  15. ^ "Dr. De River Suspended Pending Narcotics Trial," Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1950, page 1 The Sexual Criminal: A Psychoanalytical Study (1949) Library of Congress catalog [1]
  16. ^ "City Quiz on Unvented School Heaters Asked," Los Angeles Times, March 16, 1957, page 4
  17. ^ Priore, Domenic. Riot On Sunset Strip: Rock 'n' roll's last stand in Hollywood. Jawbone Press, 2007.
  18. ^ Los Angeles Times, December 3, 1961 “Businessman Appointed to Civil Defense Group” [2]

External links

Preceded by
13th District

1947–1958
Succeeded by
Preceded by Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
3rd District

1958–1974
Succeeded by