Howard W. Davis
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Howard Woster Davis (November 13, 1885 – December 13, 1959) was a member of the
California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...
for two years and of the
Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The President of the Los Angeles City Counc ...
for 16 years. He was indicted on charges of accepting bribes to influence his actions as a city official but was cleared on one count and never tried on the others, which were dismissed.


Biography

Davis, the son of John C. Davis, was born in 1885 in Pennsylvania and moved to Los Angeles in
1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...
. He had a brother, George E. His wife was Marion Davis, and they lived at 314 West Santa Barbara Avenue. Their son was Howard W. Jr., and their daughter was Mary Jo, who married Charles L. Harris in 1938. A real estate man, Howard Sr. was a charter member and past president of the Southside
Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...
and a member of Al Malaikah Shrine Temple. In 1924 he was a member of the board of governors of the Los Angeles
Realty In English common law, real property, real estate, immovable property or, solely in the US and Canada, realty, is land which is the property of some person and all structures (also called improvements or fixtures) integrated with or affixe ...
Board"City Council Honors Late Howard Davis," ''Los Angeles Times,'' December 15, 1959, page B-10
/ref> He died December 13, 1959, in
Coronado, California Coronado (Spanish for "Crowned") is a resort city located in San Diego County, California, United States, across the San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego. It was founded in the 1880s and incorporated in 1890. Its population was 24,697 at the ...
, at the age of 76.


Political career


1923–26

Davis's first bid for public office was in August 1923, when he
cross-filed In American politics, cross-filing (similar to the concept of electoral fusion) occurs when a candidate runs in the primary election of not only their own party, but also that of one or more other parties, generally in the hope of reducing or elimi ...
for the State Assembly in the 73rd District primary election. On the Republican ballot he received 2,554 votes to 1,188 for Eugene C. Jennings, 690 for George L. Hager, 401 for M.H. Broyles, and 226 for James G. Edmonds. On the Democratic ballot he received 111 votes against 46 for Hager. In the November final election, running as both a Democrat and a Republican, he defeated Sidney P. Dones, an independent, and Leo J. Wright, a Socialist. Davis began his campaign for City Council in
Los Angeles City Council District 7 Los Angeles City Council District 7 is one of the 15 districts of the Los Angeles City Council. It covers much of the northeastern San Fernando Valley. On May 16, 2017, Monica Rodriguez was elected to fill the open seat following the resignation o ...
in March 1925. In the May primary he came in second with 2,216 votes to 3,502 for
Ralph Luther Criswell Ralph Luther Criswell (October 12, 1861 – November 17, 1947) was a member of the Los Angeles City Council for ten years in the early 20th century. He then became a special agent, or lobbyist, for the Boulder Canyon Project#Planning and agreement ...
, followed by George F. Ryan, 927; S.B.W. May, 651; Edward J. Nagle, 479; and Eldon C. Rookledge, 236. The municipal general election campaign in 1925 was highlighted by an attack upon Criswell for having registered in the
Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
in January 1918 but afterwards changing his registration to Republican and notifying the Socialist Party "that he was still in sympathy with the principles of Socialism and felt that he could do more outside of the party to forward them than as a member." Nevertheless, Criswell was elected in the November balloting, 3,477 votes to Davis's 2,482. Retaining his seat in the Assembly, Davis in 1926 became chairman of a group of California Real Estate Association members in the chamber, working to amend a Real Estate Act that had been adopted in 1919. In 1926 he was unopposed for re-election.


1927–37

In May 1927, Davis was again a candidate for the 7th District City Council seat, winning outright in the primary, with 3,325 votes to Criswell's 2,467 and 422 for George W. Grimmer and 130 for A. Kreling. He was reelected also in 1927, with E.J. Nagle as the runner-up. In January 1930, Davis and seven other council members who had voted in favor of granting a rock-crushing permit in the Santa Monica Mountains were unsuccessfully targeted for recall on the grounds that the eight
have conspired with ...
Alphonzo Bell Alphonzo Edward Bell Sr. (September 29, 1875 – December 27, 1947) was an American oil multi-millionaire, real estate developer, philanthropist, and champion tennis player. The westside Los Angeles residential community of Bel Air is name ...
, Samuel Traylor and Chapin A. Day, all multi-millionaires, to grant this group a special spot zoning permit to crush and ship ... from the high-class residential section of Santa Monica, limestone and rock for cement.
Davis was among six council members who in May 1930 unsuccessfully opposed allocating funds to make a study of leveling Bunker Hill, "which stands as a hindrance to traffic and a bar to development in the northwestern downtown territory." In 1931 Davis won re-election in the May primary with 4,466 votes against three other candidates — Criswell, 2,995; Nagle, 908; and George Grant, 462. In April 1933, Davis wrote a lengthy article in the ''Los Angeles Times'' ("as told to Mary June Burton") detailing the joys and sorrows of being a City Council member. He said:
... I enjoy it. I think politics is the most intriguing game in the world. I enjoy the maneuvering necessary to put through an ordinance I believe will help my district and the city, and sometimes the difficulties and red tape only increase the zest. ... Today it seems to be the custom for public officeholders to deny they're politicians. I'm a politician.
Davis was reelected to a two-year term in May 1933 by a vote of 9,361 to 3,386 for Bert L. Farmer, a former Assembly member and a former Council member (1917–21); 1,417 for Alex Salot, a real estate dealer; and 1,061 for C.C. Terzo, a
haberdasher In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a retailer who sells men's clothing, ...
. In July 1933 Davis, who by then was the "senior member" of the council, was elected its president over
George W.C. Baker George Washington Conrad Baker (September 28, 1872 – April 13, 1953) was a member of the Los Angeles, California, City Council from 1931 to 1935. Biography Baker was born on September 28, 1872, in San Francisco, California, the son of Conrad ...
by a vote of 8 to 7. Davis took what was called a "voluntary retirement" in 1935 and did not run for reelection that year. Instead, Will H. Kindig won the election over Dwight Baker, 8,077 to 7,957. Two years later, however, Davis was back, winning in the May 1937 primary election against Kindig, 8,010 to 6,705. Kindig had been elected in 1935 with support from the "radical element" in the
End Poverty in California End Poverty in California (EPIC) was a political campaign started in 1934 by socialist writer Upton Sinclair (best known as author of ''The Jungle''). The movement formed the basis for Sinclair's campaign for Governor of California in 1934. The p ...
movement, but lost it during the course of his term. Even before Davis was seated, he was named by the council as what some called a "lobbyist" for the city in Sacramento, seeking action on legislation that would benefit Los Angeles, particularly the distribution of gasoline-tax revenues.


1938–39

On December 15, 1938, Davis and Howard Baker, a former business associate, were
indicted An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of an ...
on two counts of bribery conspiracy in connection with the obtaining of
spot zoning Spot zoning is the application of zoning to a specific parcel or parcels of land within a larger zoned area when the rezoning is usually at odds with a city's master plan and current zoning restrictions. Spot zoning may be ruled invalid as an "arbi ...
permits for operating in the rich oil fields of the Wilmington district near
Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...
. He was arrested and booked into the county jail but was later released on
bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemical ...
. In February 1939, a
grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
, at the instigation of District Attorney
Buron Fitts Buron Rogers Fitts (March 22, 1895 – March 29, 1973) was the 29th lieutenant governor of California, from 1927 to 1928, and Los Angeles County district attorney thereafter until 1940. Early life Born in Belcherville, Texas, Fitts received h ...
, also voted 38 charges of misconduct, in a rare move designed to force Davis from office. Checks in payment, one of them made out to Davis's wife, were displayed in evidence at a non-jury trial before Superior Court Judge Raymond McIntosh. Prosecutors claimed that Davis received "nearly $20,000 in special fees for his efforts." Davis replied that the fees were for his "special knowledge" and that, in any event, he received them during the two years he was not on the council. McIntosh, a visiting jurist from Sierra County, ruled in favor of Davis and exonerated him, and the prosecution thereupon dropped the other charges against Davis and Baker as well. When Davis, who had been on leave, returned to his flower-bedecked council desk the next day, he was cheered and named to lead the council as president pro tem for the session. In the primary election the Tuesday after the court decision, Davis was eliminated from the field, placing third after Negro newspaper publisher
Leon H. Washington Jr. Leon H. Washington Jr. (April 15, 1907 – June 17, 1974) was an American newspaper publisher. He was the founder and first publisher of the ''Los Angeles Sentinel'', an African-American newspaper in Los Angeles, California. Early life Born in Ka ...
and Carl C. Rasmussen. The votes were Washington, 5,011; Rasmussen, 3,402; Davis, 3,049; M.T. Faulkes, 1,756; Ray West, 1,242; Edward J. Nagle, 974; Scott Weller, 604; John R. Edwards, 507; Everett K. Miller, 291; and Jay W. Swander, 161. Rasmussen won the seat in the November final election.


1941–59

Davis again challenged Rasmussen in 1941 and came in second, by a vote of 1,865 for the incumbent councilman, 1,330 for Davis, 240 for John Ferry and 215 for Harold D. Motter. Rasmussen won the final vote in May, 11,726 to 8,340 for Davis. He tried one more time to unseat Rasmussen, in April 1947, this time coming in fourth. The votes were 7,097 for Rasmussen, 5,528 for Don A. Allen, 5,211 for Jonathan Lyle Caston, 2,536 for Davis, 1,074 for James F. Collins, 863 for Vince Monroe Townsend Jr., 261 for Harold Draper and 200 for Richard H. Alvord. Davis's final public notice was a letter in the ''Times'' on June 8, 1954, when he urged a pay raise for City Council members."Pay for Council," page A-4
/ref> When he died in 1959, the council adjourned "out of respect" to him.


References

''Access to the ''Los Angeles Times'' links requires the use of a library card.'' ---- {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Howard W 1885 births 1959 deaths Republican Party members of the California State Assembly Presidents of the Los Angeles City Council 20th-century American politicians