Familiar name announces for Newport Beach election

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- Ron Winship, a new media film producer who has

repeatedly run for City Council, has announced he will challenge Gary

Adams for the District 4 council seat up for grabs in November.

Adams beat out Winship in the last election with 85% of the vote. In

1994, Winship, a longtime Newport North resident, was declared the winner

of the council seat until final vote counts put Tom Edwards ahead by a

mere handful of votes. Winship first ran for the City Council in 1986,

when he unsuccessfully challenged Clarence Turner for a seat.

Winship, who considers wife Anna a partner in his community activism

and political life, describes himself as about 85% in support of

Greenlight.

Though not an official Greenlight candidate, Winship said he wants to

be an ally of Greenlight Councilman John Heffernan in supporting slower

growth and other measures.

“Watching his votes so far, I can say I’d have voted with John close

to 100% of the time,” Winship said.

Winship, 60, was an outspoken opponent of the proposed expansion of

the Koll Center but believes that the right hotel project at Newport

Dunes Waterfront Resort would be good for the city. He said he will run

for the seat even if the Greenlight Committee sponsors a candidate to run

in District 4. Greenlight is expected to announce a slate of candidates

for the upcoming council elections.

“I think there needs to be a change in Newport Beach,” Winship said.

“Now that we’re a big city, it’s time to get more sophisticated. . . .

And [I’m] not in any developers’ pockets.”

In addition to controlling growth, Winship listed water quality as a

top concern.

Winship, co-owner of Parker-Longbow Productions, has lived in Newport

Beach since 1952.

His announcement creates the first real contest so far in the upcoming

elections: The other four seats up for grabs so far have only one

candidate each.

District 4 includes most of the area surrounding Upper Newport Bay, as

well as the airport area.