Candidates, start your engines

It has begun. You may hardly notice it now, but soon fliers will fill

your mailbox, signs will clutter your vision and ads will inundate

your downtime. That’s right, it’s time to stop being mere residents

and to become voters.

Potential candidates began pulling papers to run for office last

week.

Candidates must obtain signatures of 20 locally registered voters,

and the deadline to file the petitions is Aug. 6.

So far, we have three candidates for City Council seats, one for

city clerk and one for city treasurer.

City Clerk Verna Rollinger won’t be running this year. Martha

Anderson, deputy city clerk for almost five years, will seek the

position.

Laura Parisi will run again for city treasurer, a position she’s

held since 1996.

Incumbents Cheryl Kinsman and Wayne Baglin are running again.

Kinsman first ran and was elected to council in 2000. Baglin has been

on the city government scene since 1978 but hasn’t served in

consecutive terms. He was last elected in 2000.

Nonincumbent Jane Egly, an attorney who’s on the Laguna Greenbelt

Inc. board, also announced her intention to run.

The election date is Nov. 2, and we still have plenty of time for

forums and pitches.

The League of Women Voters will hold a mini forum on Oct. 2 at the

high school -- candidates must pay $50 to participate. Another

election role the league’s taking on is that of financial watchdog.

It will keep a close eye on those campaign-finance disclosures from

start to finish.

Whatever the result, we hope all candidates enter into the mix

with the intention of doing what’s best for Laguna Beach. It’s hardly

an easy task. Every decision and most comments will come under

scrutiny. No matter how fair you try to be, there will likely be at

least a few people at the ready to explain how ignorant or biased you

are.

So keep your chins up, your noses clean, and know that those of us

not interested in entering the public fray thank you for your effort.