What’s behind door No. 3?

DANETTE GOULET

There’s no doubt it’s a hot topic and an interesting debate.

Should voters be offered a third choice in the organization of the

city government come March? Before Monday, there were to be two

options on the March ballot: yea or nay on a plan to slice Huntington

Beach into five council districts, reducing the group’s number by

two, with council members elected solely by voters in their area of

the city.

On Monday, Councilman Dave Sullivan introduced door No. 3 . Behind

door No. 3 we have a compromise: seven council districts with

candidates elected by voters in their district.

Both of these districting options give residents one vote, one

voice on the council.

“I [introduced the seven-member initiative] in order to make

deadline for the March ballot,” Sullivan said. “We need to make a

decision by Nov. 17.”

But why add another option?

For Sullivan, the idea was to draw support away from the

five-district plan. But does that not double the chance that Surf

City will soon have City Council districts?

The odd twist here is that Sullivan is adamantly opposed to

districts and the idea of council members not being elected at large.

So why ask the council to introduce such an initiative?

It is a case of settling for the lesser of two evils. While he

would never even vote for his own proposed initiative, Sullivan is

trying to give those who may favor a districting option one that

would be less “disastrous” for the city.

For that is what Sullivan said the Fair District Initiative,

introduced by former Assemblyman Scott Baugh, would be -- disastrous

for the city of Huntington Beach.

The arguments against the five-district plan remain the same as

when it was first introduced. The two big arguments are:

Five members are not enough to go around. A quorum would be three,

therefore city sub committees could not have more than two council

representatives. Residents only have one elected council person to

turn to and if they don’t get help there, for whatever reason,

they’re out of luck.

Sullivan’s plan solves issue No. 1, but does nothing to fix the

second, which is where most residents’ concerns seem to lie.

Everyone should have a voice in electing each member of their

local government. Sullivan’s plan should have at least been seven

districts with all the members elected at large, much like Newport

Beach has. That is a plan more people could get on board with -- that

would have been a lesser of two evils. Sullivan said he tried that

route, but got no support for that either.

There are those who also contend his plan is worse than the first

and only serves to muddy the waters.

“It’s an equally bad option,” Councilwoman Debbie Cook said. “In

fact, I’m not sure seven is better than five, because it just creates

more fiefdoms.”

Cook did nothing to hide her disgust on Monday night with the

introduction of this second districting option.

She thinks Sullivan has lost faith in the opposition’s ability to

defeat the measure as they defeated the controversial Measure C years

ago.

And she’s right. When push comes to shove, Sullivan does not have

faith that voters will defeat this, and he is not willing to take the

risk.

“She feels strongly, and I think she’s relating it to Measure C,

and if the same passions existed on the public side [against

districts], that’d be fine, but its not the same thing,” Sullivan

said. “I just think [putting this on the ballot] is the right thing

to do because the five [districts], if that happens, is just a

disaster, and if we’re faced with no way of defeating it ... “

Cook, however, is not lacking in confidence that voters can be

persuaded to defeat this.

“It’s a very winnable election. It just takes a little bit of

effort, and I think there is a groundswell of community support that

wants to get involved and oppose it,” she said. “ I don’t know anyone

besides Scott Baugh who wants it.”

While I see where Sullivan is going with this, I want to have a

vote for each and every seat on that dais. I care less about the

number of its members than who elects the council’s members.

* DANETTE GOULET is the city editor. She can be reached at (714)

965-7170 or by e-mail at danette.goulet@latimes.com.