Here’s four for the future

Experience and steady hands.

That’s what the Huntington Beach City Council needs in the four of

seven seats that are up for reelection this Tuesday.

That’s why we recommend punching the ballot in favor of Dave

Sullivan, Cathy Green, Keith Bohr and Jill Hardy.

Let’s start with Sullivan.

The former two-term councilman, who also served as mayor, was

alternately one of the most popular and most vilified elected

officials in the city’s history.

Sullivan is popular with citizen groups, which trust him to hold

city leaders accountable when it comes to budgeting and taxpayer’s

dollars. He fought long and hard against the practice of salary

spiking by public employees, a scheme in which vacation pay, auto

allowance and other benefits are lumped into an employee’s final year

as a way to boost retirement pay, at the taxpayer’s expense.

He is also popular with environmentalists, who give him credit for

being a leader on the landmark Measure C initiative that requires any

development of park and beach lands to go before a citywide vote. And

of course, he is most known for his fierce opposition to the

development of the Bolsa Chica.

On the other side of the fence, Sullivan is no darling of the

police officers and firefighters in town. Their main complaint

against him has been his tough stand on salary negotiations.

While we fully support a strong and well-paid police and fire

force, we believe there has to be a balance between rising salary

costs and the city budget. Sullivan is the right person to keep that

balance.

Next is Cathy Green. Her political pedigree as the wife of

longtime councilman Peter Green cannot be ignored.

But her experience in the community she has called home for 32

years goes well beyond that. A registered nurse with a law degree,

she is a founding member of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica, a one-time

Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year and a board

member for numerous local organizations. She has a firm grasp of the

biggest issues facing this town and would bring both experience and

even handedness to the council

Keith Bohr offers a different kind of experience. He worked inside

City Hall in the economic development department years ago and knows

how it works.

In some cases, we would worry about a conflict, but Bohr hasn’t

worked for the city in seven years and should be far removed from any

projects or developments he may have worked on.

Instead, we believe he has a firm grasp of the issues Huntington

Beach residents care about: water quality, the acquisition of Bolsa

Chica mesa and the question of cutting down City Council districts.

Bohr is the right man to help guide the city down the next four

years.

Finally we come to Jill Hardy.

At the age of 31, she already has a resume that includes a stint

as a planning commissioner and as a leader of Huntington Beach

Tomorrow and the Bolsa Chica Land Trust. We like her stands on water

quality, districting and purchasing the mesa.

Hardy will be a good fit for the next four years.