Everyone’s in City Hall

S.J. CAHN

Costa Mesa’s political future came into fairly clear focus during an

unexpected series of events over the past two weeks or so.

First, Councilwoman Libby Cowan named Mirna Burciaga as her

replacement for an outgoing Parks and Recreation commissioner, Kelly

Feldman.

Burciaga is best known for questioning the Newport-Mesa Unified

School District’s handling of English-language learners. Her

complaints brought a federal investigation, which in part led to the

district’s creation of a more systematic approach to the problem. The

owner of El Chinaco restaurant, she also has served on the district’s

English Language Advisory Committee and the city’s Humans Relations

Committee.

Her appointment to a city commission was notable for a few

reasons.

First, by serving on a commission that is a part (albeit

relatively small) of the governing process, Burciaga will learn how

the system works and will be able to tout her experience come next

summer when the campaign season picks up.

Second, she has the seal of approval of a popular politician,

Cowan, who’ll be leaving the dais next year because of term limits.

Cowan ran second only to Councilman Chris Steel in the 2000 election.

Burciaga’s entry into City Hall would have been the big political

news of the week were it not for a particular exit. Planning

Commissioner Joel Faris, a onetime council candidate, announced that

he was moving out of town and leaving the commission.

Bigger news. Although Faris didn’t run for council last year, in

2000 -- as a total unknown -- he came in fifth in an 11-person field.

And it seemed he had a long future in Costa Mesa’s politics.

But even that wasn’t the top story. Councilman Allan Mansoor then

announced he was filling Faris’ seat with a name that should be

familiar to folks who have been paying some attention to City Hall:

Eric Bever.

Bever, of course, made a name for himself by magnanimously

removing his name from the deadlocked, two-man appointment race to

replace former Councilwoman Karen Robinson earlier this year.

He’s now just a step away from the council. All he’ll have to do,

if he does run, is separate himself from what promises to be a

crowded field in a three-seat race (one more like the race in 2000

than the five-person race in 2002).

The list of people who are expected or seem likely to run from

just City Hall is expansive: Councilmen Mike Scheafer and Steel (more

on Steel later); Planning Commissioners Bever, Katrina Foley, Bruce

Garlich and Bill Perkins (in other words, all but Planning

Commissioner Dennis DeMaio); and Parks and Recreation Commissioners

Burciaga (who begins in January), Jim Fisler and Wendy Leece, this

last one late of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of

Trustees.

Parks commissioner Byron de Arakal, a former Daily Pilot

columnist, says he has no intention of running next year.

De Arakal’s not running, by some early estimations, puts his

chances of winning about even with Steel’s. The councilman, who

stunned conventional wisdom by winning a seat in 2000 in his 10th

try, has managed to alienate many of his supporters, who can be

loosely tied together under the umbrella term “improvers.”

This group, which seeks a more aggressive approach to handling

redevelopment and issues related to immigrants living in town, such

as the Job Center and housing, also helped elect Mansoor a year ago.

They include Bever and Fisler, who seem poised to draw away Steel’s

support, leaving the councilman a politician without enough friends

come election time.

Steel will have the benefit of incumbency. But tell former

councilwomen Heather Somers and Linda Dixon how much that helps.

* S.J. CAHN is the managing editor. He can be reached at (949)

574-4233 or by e-mail at s.j.cahn@latimes.com.