3 DRAW ELECTION PAPERS LANCASTER TO VOTE IN APRIL.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Lancaster's municipal election season started Monday with two incumbents taking out nomination papers and the Antelope Valley Chambers of Commerce president declaring his candidacy.

Mayor Frank Roberts and Vice Mayor Henry Hearns are seeking re-election, while the other incumbent, Councilwoman Michelle Idleman, has not declared whether she will run for a second term.

Also announcing a run for the council on Monday was Steve Malicott, president and chief executive officer of the Antelope Valley Chambers of Commerce, who said he will run a low-key campaign. The election will take place April 9.

In what is becoming a tradition for Roberts and Hearns, they kicked off their re-election bids Monday by signing each other's nomination papers during a morning signature-gathering session at a Lancaster Boulevard coffeehouse.

Both men are running campaigns focused on creating jobs for residents. They point to past successes, such as the landing of a 500-job Countrywide mortgage loan center and the expansion of the Rite Aid warehouse and distribution center.

``Jobs are our main mission,'' Roberts said. ``We want to generate the high-tech jobs that generate salaries and benefits above the norm.''

Malicott said he intends to run a word-of-mouth campaign, will not post election signs and will not seek campaign donations.

``I'm not going to ask for any donations. I don't want to be beholden to anyone but the people,'' Malicott said. ``People are tired of politicians reaching into their pockets.''

Malicott said he successfully ran a similar campaign to win a school board seat in the community of Adelanto.

Malicott said if he is elected he wants to establish better relationships with the surrounding communities and to make more aggressive efforts to attract retail stores and restaurants to the city.

Malicott was born and raised in Lancaster. He spent 26 years in the Air Force, becoming the senior enlisted adviser to the Air Force Flight Test Center commander at Edwards Air Force Base.

Malicott served as the executive officer of the Antelope Valley Board of Realtors before being hired in 1999 to run the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce, which is now called the Antelope Valley Chambers of Commerce.

Roberts, a former Antelope Valley College dean, is running for his fourth term as Lancaster's mayor. Roberts has the distinction of being the city's first, and thus far only, directly elected mayor. He was elected to the City Council in 1992 before his election as mayor in 1996.

In addition to job creation, Roberts said another priority if he is re- elected will be to work to establish a water recycling program for the city's landscaped medians, freeway on-ramps and parks. Hearns, a retired Edwards Air Force Base administrator and pastor of First Missionary Baptist Church in Littlerock, was first elected in 1990 and is seeking a fourth term on the City Council.

Prospective candidates have until Jan. 11 to submit their nomination papers. The Jan. 11 deadline will be extended five days if Idleman decides not to run for re-election.

In the previous Lancaster election, in 2000, council members Andy Visokey and Jim Jeffra ran unopposed. Roberts was challenged by David Abber, a part-time ticket broker who has since been convicted of stalking a former girlfriend. Roberts won re-election by a more than 4-1 margin.