Grass-roots efforts win seat

Lolita Harper

A remarkable election resulted in a classic City Council

Cinderella story Tuesday.

Allan Mansoor, who had never run for office or held an elected

position, unseated seasoned Mayor Linda Dixon, gathering 502 more

votes than the incumbent to win a seat with 6,965 votes, compared to

Dixon’s 6,463. Mansoor will join Councilman Gary Monahan, who was the

top vote-getter with 9,805, or 31%, on the dais in December.

Mansoor and Dixon garnered 22% and 20%, respectively, final

election results showed Wednesday.

“It was like David and Goliath,” Mansoor said Wednesday. “I was

the outsider and a longshot yet I won over the incumbent mayor. I

attribute it to all the grass-roots support.”

That grass-roots support was provided by dozens of volunteers who

labeled themselves “improvers” and helped Mansoor crusade. He raised

the least money of the five candidates, but the priceless manpower

fueled his campaign. Many of those who campaigned on behalf of

Mansoor were those responsible for Councilman Chris Steel’s decisive

win in 2000.

Eric Bever, a Westside resident, was one of the many who took to

the streets to helped both Steel and Mansoor get elected. He walked

precincts, helped deliver mailers, put up signs and spread the word.

“We did it again,” Bever said of he and his fellow improvers. “And

we’ll do it again if we have to. It’s not just the Westside anymore.

People all over the city want a change, and we are making sure we get

heard.”

Janice Davidson worked alongside Bever in both campaigns and said

the activists have once again proven they are a force to be reckoned

with.

“And we are getting stronger,” Davidson added.

Mansoor, who at one point in the campaign lost his voice from

talking so much, said he learned a lot about the political scene

during his weeks of running.

Although he had been a consistent voice at City Council meetings,

Mansoor said he hadn’t an inkling of the effort involved in active

campaigning and admitted to feeling a bit overwhelmed at times.

“I made the commitment to campaign and I refused to back down,”

Mansoor said. “Even up until the Sunday before elections, I was out

knocking on doors.”

Mansoor, who also sits on the city’s Human Relations Committee,

was the target of earlier attacks this year by members of a local gay

and lesbian organization who called him homophobic and intolerant.

The campaign trail provided more hurdles, as other candidates raised

double, triple and even quadruple amounts of political funds.

“I feel vindicated by this win,” Mansoor said. “Considering all

that Human Relations Committee baloney and those people who tried to

send me packing, I feel really vindicated. I’m still here, and they

are going to have to try much harder next time.”

Dixon, who touted a 20-year laundry list of community service

titles on her resume, bowed out of the public arena graciously

Wednesday, saying the voters had obviously made their decision.

“The community has spoken, and if that’s the direction they want

to go in, I wish them the best of luck,” Dixon said.

Dixon blames her defeat on a combination of poor voter turnout, a

diluted pool of candidates and unprincipled campaign strategies. The

mayor contends that most Costa Mesa residents were content and

therefore had no deep-seeded desire to run to the polls.

Dixon also said a bid for council by Planning Commission

Chairwoman Katrina Foley hurt her campaign by splitting many of the

same votes.

She also pointed the finger at unscrupulous strategies by Mansoor

and his camp, including bullet voting -- which is when people cast

only one of their two allowed votes so as to not give any other

candidates a boost.

“At least I know I lost honestly,” Dixon said.

Foley, who came in fourth place with 16%, echoed Dixon’s

sentiments Wednesday.

“I think we ran a very positive and on-the-issues campaign, and I

am very proud of it,” said Foley, who was the target of at least one

contentious political ploy.

Foley said it is difficult to analyze voters’ intentions so soon

after the election and with such a strong slate of viable candidates,

but she doesn’t think her bid for a seat on the dais affected the

results.

“Gary Monahan and Allan Mansoor had a steady lead throughout the

evening,” said Foley, who received 5,156 votes. “It was an obvious

mandate by those voters that they wanted Gary and Allan. If I didn’t

run, I don’t think it would have been any different.”

Foley faces an even more sobering reality than just loosing the

council election. Her term on the Planning Commission is up in March,

she said. She will need a council majority to get reappointed.

“I really enjoy that position and would like to keep it,” Foley

said.

Her chances may be slim considering the policy differences between

her and Steel and Mansoor, not to mention the political bad blood

that was shed between her and Monahan in the election.

Nobody was surprised by Monahan’s triumphant return to the dais.

He held an overwhelming lead all night and gathered 2,894 more votes

than anyone.

Planning Commissioner Bill Perkins, who was taken under Monahan’s

wing during the campaign, failed to garner the overflow votes from

the numerous Monahan supporters as he had planned.

Monahan shared money, mailers and political expertise with Perkins

throughout the campaign to get him elected to the second seat.

Perkins, who was trying for the second time to get a seat on the

council, garnered less than a third of Monahan’s total votes and

tallied the lowest totals of the evening with 10%, or 3,263 votes. He

finished last in his first council election, as well.

“I didn’t expect to come in last place again and I definitely

didn’t expect Mansoor to win,” Perkins said.

Perkins, whose Planning Commission term is also up in March, said

Mansoor’s dedicated followers and split voting were responsible for

the results. He, Monahan and Mansoor were forced to share the

conservative vote, Perkins said.

“I knew we were going to split some votes, and that’s exactly what

happened,” Perkins said. “Allan came out the victor.”

* LOLITA HARPER covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at lolita.harper@latimes.com.