A CLOSER LOOK -- Candidates settle down after long campaign

Jennifer Kho and Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT-MESA -- Some are bitter and some are victorious, but there is

one emotion that all Newport Beach and Costa Mesa city council candidates

say they share -- relief that the election is over.

“I’m definitely glad it’s all done,” said Costa Mesa candidate William

Perkins, who was not elected. “I’m finally going to relax and get some

sleep.”

In Newport Beach, views differed sharply on whether candidates had

friendly or aggressive campaigns.

Much of the postelection unhappiness has come out of District 5, where

Councilman-elect Steve Bromberg beat opponent Patricia M. Beek by 703

votes. Robert Schoonmaker, a third candidate, trailed the others with

13.4% of the votes.

Both Beek and Schoonmaker criticized Bromberg’s campaign strategy

during the final days before the election. Beek said she was disappointed

Bromberg had used a statement by Jean Watt and Evelyn Hart, both former

councilwomen, to support his campaign. While Bromberg’s advertisement did

not state that he had received the women’s endorsement, Beek said it

could lead voters to believe that this was the case.

Bromberg, who described the ad as “incredibly clean,” said Watt and

Hart had made the comment urging him to run for the council seat at a

fund-raiser.

“If it comes across as an implied endorsement, that’s something I

can’t help,” Bromberg said. “People ought to stand by what they say and

do.”

Beek also agreed with Schoonmaker that a mailer sent out by Bromberg

describing him as the Republican candidate for District 5 had overstepped

boundaries.

“Mr. Bromberg is well-aware that these are nonpartisan offices that

we’re seeking,” said Schoonmaker, adding that Bromberg had not received

support from the county’s Republican Party to make the claim. “I have

been a Republican longer than he has. I consider that to be rather

unethical.”

But Bromberg countered that while walking precincts, he’d simply

realized that people cared about party affiliation in Newport Beach.

“I never once said that the Republican Party was endorsing me,” he

said, adding that his opponents’ comments showed the election results had

created “just a lot of sour grapes.”

“Everyone else had an opportunity to do a flier if they wanted,” he

said.

While Beek said she’ll continue to serve on the Parks, Beaches and

Recreation Commission, where she is in the first year of her second term,

she couldn’t say if she’d run again for office.

In the nearer future, she said she might join her sons in Sydney,

Australia, for a sailing trip.

Schoonmaker said he might not wait four years to run again. He said he

may challenge county Supervisor Tom Wilson for his post in 2002.

“If I ran a campaign for that particular seat, it would be in a more

conventional manner than I’ve done this time,” said Schoonmaker, who

spent less than $1,000 on his City Council campaign.

“I wanted to find out if it was possible for a person to obtain office

doing it the way I did it,” he said. “And now I know that this is not

possible in this time and day.”

CLEAN COMPETITION

Newport Beach District 2 candidate Dennis P. Lahey, who lost the race

to Councilman-elect Gary L. Proctor, said that in the weeks leading up to

the election, residents had seen a “very highly ethical campaign.”

He added that he plans to support his opponent when Proctor is sworn

into office.

“He beat me good,” Lahey said. “He’ll do just fine. I’ll do anything

to help him to make it work.”

Lahey, a Greenlight supporter, said he had accomplished his goal by

getting the initiative approved by voters. He doesn’t plan to run again

in four years but does plan to focus on his duties as commander of the

American Legion. He also said he would gladly accept any offers to get

involved in city government.

“I’ll be happy to serve on a commission,” he said. “The harbor, of

course, is my first love.”

Fellow District 2 candidate Steven Rosansky, who trailed both Proctor

and Lahey in the polls, said the campaign taught him that money counts.

Rosansky added that he’d also like to get involved in a city

commission.

“I’ve just begun my public service,” he said. “I haven’t ended it. I

probably jumped the gun anyway running for City Council without paying my

dues. Not that Mr. Proctor has paid his dues, but he had a little more

money than I did.”

Proctor agreed that the campaign had seen no mudslinging. He added

that televising the candidates forums gave residents an opportunity to

hear candidates’ views rather than read about them in mailers.

“It’s a more helpful way to let people understand where people stand

on issues,” he said.

In District 7, where Greenlight supporter and Councilman-elect John

Heffernan, Greenlight opponent and former City Manager Bob Wynn and

incumbent Tom Thomson had drawn the battle lines in public debates,

little animosity came into the open after Tuesday’s election.

Heffernan previously had credited his experience as a Hoag Hospital

member, as well as his appearances at debates, for his election success,

and said he’d spend the next weeks getting to know people in the

different city departments to prepare for the job. Heffernan and Thomson

could not be reached for comment Friday.

After the election, Wynn said Heffernan’s support of Greenlight had

probably gotten him the necessary votes. On Friday, he said he would

postpone a decision on whether to run again until 2004.

A SURPRISING VOTE IN COSTA MESA

Costa Mesa voters reacted to the campaign by selecting a surprising

mix of council members last week, with Chris Steel -- who had been

defeated in nine previous elections -- getting the most votes,

Councilwoman Libby Cowan coming in a strong second, and Karen Robinson --

the first racial minority on the council -- apparently narrowly

displacing incumbent Councilwoman Heather Somers. Absentee ballots are

still being counted, so the voting results are not yet official.

City leaders say they are now trying to decipher the message residents

sent with their votes.

Steel, a controversial City Hall critic who said the city should not

continue to “educate, recreate, medicate, domesticate and compensate

noncitizens,” campaigned on his ideas of requiring citizenship screening

for city-permitted services, strengthening code enforcement, setting up

council districts, stopping the possible expansion of John Wayne Airport

and closing the city’s job center.

His election shows that residents are dissatisfied and want a change,

said unsuccessful candidate Ronald Channels; Janice Davidson, chairwoman

of Citizens to Improve Costa Mesa; and Mayor Gary Monahan.

Cowan said she has struggled to figure out what kind of change the

voters want, because they elected both Steel and Robinson, who have many

differing opinions.

“I’m very surprised that Costa Mesa, which I see as a very

compassionate, welcoming and comfortable city for all, would elect a

Chris Steel,” she said. “I think it’s three things: name recognition,

good placement on the ballot and the small number of people who are his

kind of radical, right-wing conservatives who coalesced around him and

gave him the votes he needed.”

Cowan said Robinson’s apparent election matched her expectations more

closely, because she said Robinson seems to represent “a sentiment in the

community to protect the small-town feeling in a rapidly growing,

urbanizing community.”

A big part of Robinson’s platform was to “prevent urbanization,”

including opposing the C.J. Segerstrom & Sons plan to construct an Ikea

store in the city unless it is revised.

Paul Freeman, spokesman for C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, said he hopes

Robinson will be open-minded.

“She’s proven herself to be an effective advocate for her point of

view, and I respect her,” he said. “I think the project will have real

benefits for the city, and I don’t think it will be really impactful, so

I hope she will look at it analytically now that she’s in a position of

responsibility.”

VOTERS FOLLOW A GOOD ECONOMY

Planning Commissioner Tom Sutro, who came in eighth despite having

raised the third-most money for his campaign, said he thinks the economy

was a point in favor of Robinson and against himself.

“With the economy so good, people are concerned about traffic and new

developments that could be built in the area, but property owners have

rights and developers have the right to build,” he said. “I think their

vote for [Robinson] was really what people thought of as a vote for lower

densities and less traffic. I am on the Planning Commission and have

approved a number of projects that have taken place. People see that as

increasing traffic and voted against it.”

Most Costa Mesa candidates said they have not decided if they will run

again in two years.

Candidates Perkins and Channels, who said he wants to get the

unsuccessful candidates together to attend meetings and lobby the City

Council on behalf of their individual pet issues, said they are planning

to run again. Candidate Joel Faris, who did not win his council bid, said

he will not try again.

Faris said he enjoyed campaigning and is happy with the votes he

received, but he has decided to participate in other community

activities.

“I really feel I have plenty to do without a council seat,” he said.

“I think God has a place for each of us, and my place is elsewhere for

now. I’m planning on being active in the community big time. But if I can

get fifth place with a less-than-$500 campaign and after living here for

three years, that just shows what personal one-to-one conversations can

get you. I think people saw the issues and voted on them, and we should

give voters more credit than we sometimes do. It proves people can win

without money, and money doesn’t guarantee anything.”