Final thanks for a job well done

Back in August of 2000, we wrote an editorial lamenting the lack

of good people running for public office, titled “Where have all the

candidates gone?”

Since then, several matters have rocked the political landscape

and made campaigning a tougher game than ever.

We’ve most likely played a part in that game, as some have

bemoaned our sometimes hard-hitting coverage and bold, front-page

headlines.

But we are just the tip of the iceberg.

Candidates today have to face the reality of phony phone calls,

exorbitant campaign fund-raising for nonpaying offices, trumped up

charges of malfeasance and conspiracies and name calling by members

of the public and even their own board colleagues.

So with that in mind, we’d like to tip our hat in gratitude to the

brave batch of outgoing school board and city council members who

withstood the heat, didn’t get out of the kitchen (until their terms

were up) and left legacies that will be long lasting.

On the Costa Mesa City Council, we must say a word of thanks to

Linda Dixon, who lost her bid for reelection in November. Dixon

served as a councilwoman during a period that for at least the last

two years saw nary a meeting that went by without rantings of rancor

and discord.

To be sure, Dixon’s accomplishments and contributions to this

city, reported and unreported, will be appreciated by residents for a

long time to come.

On the Newport Beach City Council, longtime council members Dennis

O’Neil and Norma Glover were forced out of their seats by term

limits.

In their eight years, they saw the council torn asunder by several

issues, most notably the ouster of then City Manager Kevin Murphy and

the ascendancy and domination of the Greenlight movement, a movement

that targeted the council as ineffective and unresponsive to the

needs of the community.

Glover and O’Neil, who were on opposite sides of the Murphy firing

fiasco, were certainly not the darlings of that Greenlight crowd, but

managed to get their voices heard by sticking to their message.

But what residents will ultimately be the most grateful to O’Neil

and Glover for is their role as the main powerbrokers to an agreement

by leaders of Stop Polluting Our Newport, the Airport Working Group,

the county board of supervisors and the city to ink a new Settlement

Agreement at John Wayne that will extend flight caps and curfews for

years to come.

Finally, to the Newport-Mesa Unified School Board. There probably

couldn’t be two members more diametrically opposed than Wendy Leece

and Jim Ferryman. Both will not be on the board in the coming years,

Ferryman by his own choice, Leece by virtue of the ballot box.

Leece probably won’t be missed much by her board colleagues, who

often disagreed with her outspoken and conservative points of view.

Ferryman, on the other hand, was a valued member of the school

board team, so to speak, who enjoyed the loyalty of his colleagues,

even through his darkest hour, while facing a DUI arrest and

subsequent conviction.

Either way, both have played important roles in the shaping of

policies such as zero tolerance and smaller class sizes, the opening

and reopening of new schools, of helping the board recover from

financial losses linked to the county bankruptcy and the crowing of

all achievements, the overwhelming public support for a bond measure

that promises to repair the crumbling infrastructure and make a

better environment for all the teens and children in this district.

To all of those who have served, we extend our thanks on behalf of

the community and this paper.