ANTI-MAYFIELD DRIVE LAUNCHED.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

PALMDALE - A newly formed political committee is charging that City Council candidate John Mayfield is not fit to serve because of a 1995 conviction for drunken driving and four eviction actions.

Sponsored by supporters of candidate Rick Norris' campaign and opponents of Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, who backs Mayfield, the Citizens Action Committee is planning a mailer this weekend to report the charges, which were found by going through Lancaster court house records.

The mailer bears headings reading ``Arrested! Convicted! Jailed! Foreclosed! Evicted!'' plus a synopsis of court filings and court actions.

Mayfield, the Palmdale planning commission chairman and owner of a financial planning service, said his record shows he is a person who ``sticks it out'' through difficulties.

``They are trying to basically use this type of mud to deal with during an election rather than dealing with issues,'' Mayfield said. ``I guess (they) have no issues.''

Of his drunk driving arrest, Mayfield said: ``It's a situation in my life I learned a lot from.''

Mayfield said he lost his first house after being laid off from his job.

``Like many other people involved in aerospace, I was laid off and I started my own business,'' he said.

His business now fluctuates with the city's economy, he said.

``When Palmdale is up and down I'm up and down,'' he said.

Court records supplied by committee member Pat Sileo show that a California Highway Patrol officer arrested Mayfield at midnight June 21, 1995.

The officer stopped Mayfield after he made a wide turn in his 1979 Cadillac after pulling out of a Sierra Highway bar parking lot. Mayfield tested at a blood alcohol level of 0.14, above the state limit of 0.08, records show.

Appearing without an attorney, Mayfield pleaded no contest on July 26, 1995 to driving under the influence of alcohol.

He was sentenced to serve two days in county jail, fined $1,574 - or allowed instead to do 16 days of community service - and put on probation for five years, as well as ordered to attend a three-month alcohol counseling program.

Mayfield completed the counseling by Sept. 28, 1995, but failed to pay all of his fine by the Jan. 22, 1996 deadline, court records show. Judge William Seelicke found him in violation of probation, fined him another $255 and gave him another four months to pay it. He paid 12 days early.

Court records show he lost two homes to foreclosure, in 1990 and in 1997, the committee said. The eviction notices were for two homes and his downtown financial planning office, records show.