What a difference four years can make

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- On Tuesday, the kingmakers could take over the

thrones.

Four years ago, former City Manager Robert Wynn and Balboa Island

activist Steve Bromberg, respectively, helped to elect Tom Thomson and

John Noyes to the City Council. Now, the two men might replace their 1996

choices for the council, should Newport Beach residents elect them.

The scenarios differ a little.

In District 7, where Thomson defeated Measure S supporter Phil Arst in

the last election, Wynn opposes his former protege.

In District 5, Bromberg seeks to occupy Mayor Noyes’ seat on the dais.

While Noyes isn’t running for reelection, he has put his weight behind

Patricia M. Beek, another candidate for the post.

But when the former campaign advisors start talking about the reasons

for entering the race themselves, a disillusion with their former

political allies becomes apparent.

“I don’t dislike [Thomson,]” Wynn said Thursday. “He’s not a bad man.

But as a council person, you have an almost sacred obligation to keep

your ears on the ground. Thomson hasn’t been a team player on the council

and added to the divisiveness that we have in our community.”

Thomson countered that Wynn’s candidacy was a ploy by developers to

take over city government.

“There is no doubt in my mind that it’s a concocted plan to control

the City Council by the Irvine Co. and the Chamber of Commerce,” he said.

“Mr. Wynn is a fine man, but he is a developers’ lobbyist ... I think

he’s running against me because he’s a poster boy for the Irvine Co. and

developers, who didn’t like my balanced approach.”

Bromberg expressed his feelings about Noyes in a similar way to Wynn’s

comments about Thomson.

“I moved away from [Noyes] in November of 1997 for ethical reasons,”

he said, declining to elaborate.

As far as the mayor’s endorsement of Beek was concerned, “it’s not so

much that he’s helping her than that he’s getting back with me,” Bromberg

said.

Noyes countered that he’d chosen Beek over Bromberg for other reasons.

“I find [Beek] to be intelligent and honorable,” he said, adding that

while he disagreed with Beek on Measure S, she would still make a good

councilwoman.

Noyes opposes the growth-control initiative, which would put before a

citywide vote any development that allows an increase of more than 100

peak-hour car trips or dwelling units or 40,000 square feet over the

general plan allowance.

Beek supports Measure S and has been endorsed by the supporters of the

campaign. Bromberg opposes both Measure S and Measure T, which would add

parts of the city’s traffic phasing ordinance to the City Charter and

nullify Measure S, should voters approve both measures.

“All of us in the whole city, we’re all Greenlighters,” said Noyes,

referring the Greenlight initiative, another name for Measure S. “We just

have a different way of getting there.”