Tony Dodero -- From the Newsroom

I love politics. Always have.

And for political animals like myself, there probably isn’t going to

be a better place to watch local politics from the sidelines than right

here in Costa Mesa.

This current rush to City Hall began a couple weeks back when two-term

Councilman Gary Monahan announced that he was hanging it up and was going

to spend more time with his family and cooking up corn beef and cabbage

at his Irish pub. And that’s too bad because Monahan has always been a

solid member of the council.

As for solid council members, on Friday, incumbent Councilwoman Linda

Dixon confirmed to me that she’ll be running for reelection next

November. So, it’s barely December and already, the Costa Mesa City

Council race is looking to be a crowded field.

Along with Dixon, the candidates who have either said they are going

to run or said they probably will run include former Councilwoman Heather

Somers, who lost in a close call to current Councilwoman Karen Robinson

last fall, a former one-term councilman, Jay Humphrey, and Westside

improvement activists Joel Faris and Allan Mansoor.

Former Councilwoman Sandy Genis has been making much noise lately,

especially on the Home Ranch issue, but so far she insists she is not

running.

Of the five, two candidates who would have the ability to seriously

tilt the balance of power would be Faris and Mansoor.

If elected, council watchers say it would to give the controversial

Chris Steel a majority voting block on this five-person council.

But not so fast.

After Faris and Mansoor’s announcement, we ran a cartoon on our

Community Forum pages that depicted the three playing on the same

football team and tackling certain Westside issues.

But some of you may be surprised to hear that one person wrote the

paper to dispute the implication the cartoon gave.

That person was Joel Faris.

Faris, who came in fifth in last November’s 11-person council race,

told me later that while he and Steel may have similar ideas, he in no

way shares Councilman Steel’s views on all matters concerning the

Westside.

Steel, of course, who rails on about charities and the Job Center and

illegal immigrants, has been tagged as being anti-Latino by some

activists in town.

And while that tag on Steel may not be fair, Faris doesn’t want to get

swept up in that debate. He likes to point out that not only is he not

anti-Latino, but that he has two adopted children of Latino descent and

that he spends his working hours teaching schools to immigrant children

in Santa Ana.

Faris contends instead it’s his strong religious faith that molds his

opinions on such issues as the Job Center, immigration and local

charities, which are some of the biggest lightning rods on the Westside.

“It comes back to protecting my family,” said Faris, who lives at the

far west end of 19th Street.

And he doesn’t necessarily believe the charities should just go away,

he just thinks they could be better run.

“If everybody served each other according to their needs and gave

their time as well as their money, we wouldn’t have any problems,” he

said.

Faris insists some of the main issues are just getting better

sidewalks and more trees on the Westside and just cleaning up the area to

make it safe for his family and his neighbors.

So would a Faris, Mansoor, Steel City Council majority just ramrod its

agenda through? I guess that’s possible, but if Steel’s decision to go

against his constituents and vote for the Home Ranch project is any

indication, then nothing is certain.

Steel’s vote on Home Ranch is an interesting bit as well. He had

barely punched the button on the council dais when his supporters turned

on him like a pack of wolves.

It can be a vicious place these days in the council chambers. Make one

wrong move and an attack is imminent. Just ask Dixon, who has found

herself pilloried both in public and on community Web sites.

She predicts the campaign issues will center around the Westside: The

Job Center, the charities, cleaning up neighborhoods, zoning changes and

what the intersection of 19th Street and Placentia Avenue should look

like. And though she vows to run again, she’s weary of the mean-spirited

attacks and knows there’ll be even more during the campaign.

Still, even with the catcalls from the council audience and the

name-calling and the pitiful $625 a month in pay, she’s going to run

again.

“I’m going to run because I really care about Costa Mesa and I really

care about the city as a whole,” she said.

I believe that wholeheartedly about Dixon, she’s in this for all the

right reasons.

I see that same trait in Faris -- a young family man who just wants

his city to be the best it can be. And I’m sure that voters see the same

thing, which would explain his fifth-place showing after spending only

$300 last year.

One thing is for sure, even with its strident activists and gadfly,

Costa Mesa politics appears to be alive and well and well stocked with

candidates who are in the race to better their town. What else can you

ask for.

It’s going to be a fun year.

***

Speaking of politics, I received a phone call from Ron Winship, a

former Newport Beach council candidate himself. He wanted to let me know

that the Daily Pilot may have a little public relations image reshaping

to do.

What he meant was just before the Measure G election Nov. 20, the town

was plastered with political signs all over town that screamed the words

“Daily Pilot says Yes on Measure G.”

And it looked like it was the newspaper who made the signs.

While it is true that we supported the failed ballot measure to expand

the Koll center, what isn’t true is that we are the creators of those

signs.

To tell you the truth, I have no idea who created the signs.

But I can tell you that it wasn’t the Daily Pilot.

* TONY DODERO is the editor. His column appears on Mondays. If you

have story ideas or concerns about news coverage, please send messages

either via e-mail to o7 tony.dodero@latimes.comf7 or by phone at

949-574-4258.