Council hopefuls few, far between

Deirdre Newman

Only a sparse number of candidates for the City Council elections

this fall have qualified to run.

It’s been two weeks since potential candidates could pull papers

and file to run for the three open seats in Costa Mesa and the three

open seats in Newport Beach. Filing includes getting at least 20

residents to sign a petition supporting a candidate.

In Costa Mesa, one Planning Commissioner has qualified: Chairman

Bruce Garlich. Costa Mesa elects council members at large.

Garlich said he filed his petition as soon as he could so he could

move on to other aspects of his campaign.

“I don’t mess around,” Garlich said. “That’s the way I’m gonna be

as a City Council member.”

In Newport Beach, which has seven districts, incumbent Steve

Rosansky has qualified to run in district two, which includes West

Newport, and incumbent Steve Bromberg has qualified to run in

district five, which includes Balboa Island and Big Canyon.

Incumbent John Heffernan, who represents district seven, which

includes Newport Coast, has pulled a petition to run but hasn’t

decided whether he will go through with it. He said he is grappling

with how to best balance his time.

“I’m getting a lot of push-back at home,” Heffernan said. “I have

15- and 17-year-old boys, and my wife is a full-time teacher. I think

these decisions are hopefully made from the inside out -- from your

family, professional life, then public service and outreach in the

community.”

Twelve people have pulled petitions to run in Costa Mesa,

including incumbent Mike Scheafer, Planning Commissioner Eric Bever,

former Mayor Linda Dixon, Parks and Recreation Commissioner Mirna

Burciaga and Planning Commissioner Katrina Foley, who had 26 of her

supporters sign her petition Monday afternoon on the steps of City

Hall.

“It’s great,” Foley said. “It was wonderful. It was nice to have

the strong support from such a broad section of the community. We

have a good team on our way to a strong finish. I’ve raised $17,000

in the past month.”

The others who pulled papers in Costa Mesa were Sam Clark, Karl

Ahlf, Lori Hammarlund, Michael Clifford, Richard Carroll and Attillio

Giovanatto.

In Newport Beach, the only other potential candidate who has taken

out a petition is Dolores Otting, who would be running in district

seven. Phil Arst, a spokesperson for Greenlight, the slow-growth

group, said while it hasn’t endorsed anyone, Otting shares the

Greenlight philosophy. Otting couldn’t be reached for comment.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.