Former mayor to run for council

Deirdre Newman

A former mayor has joined the short list of candidates who have filed

their petitions to run for the Costa Mesa City Council.

Linda Dixon, who lost her re-election bid in 2002 in an upset to

political neophyte Allan Mansoor, is a contender again, citing pleas

from random strangers as inspiration to run.

“The fact that so many people in the community -- people that I

don’t know -- would come up to me at the grocery store, when I’m

walking my dog, at restaurants, at fast food places, at events I’d

attend, and say, ‘Are you gonna run? Are you gonna run? We need

someone like you,’” Dixon said.

Dixon joins Planning Commission Chair Bruce Garlich as the only

candidates who have gotten their petitions in and qualified to run

for the three open Costa Mesa seats in November. The seats up for

grabs belong to incumbents Libby Cowan, who has decided not to run

for re-election, Chris Steel and Mike Scheafer.

In Newport Beach, no one new has qualified since incumbents Steve

Rosansky and Steve Bromberg did so for their districts in late July.

But Rosansky could have some competition as two more potential

candidates are considering running in his district, which encompasses

West Newport: Catherine Emmons and John Buttolph.

Emmons, who owns Hang, Crate and Connect, a business that helps

with moving, said after living in Newport Beach for more than 14

years, she is thinking about running because she wants to repay her

community.

“I want to be of service and give back to the community what’s

been given to me,” Emmons said. “I also feel somewhat of the platform

of less government infringing on the individual’s rights and

freedoms.”

Buttolph, who lives in Newport Heights, said he is thinking about

running to help mediate difficult topics, a skill he says he has

honed as a small business lawyer.

“I think I can be an effective bridge between parties on different

sides of issues,” Buttolph said. “I don’t have an ax to grind

anywhere. I’m not a candidate of one particular group or another

one.”

Buttolph volunteered to help the city implement the Greenlight,

slow-growth guidelines as they related to hotels, he said. He had

taken issue with the city’s exemption of hotel projects from the

purview of those guidelines and worked with City Atty. Bob Burnham on

crafting a compromise, Buttolph added.

In Costa Mesa, no one has pulled papers since last week, keeping

the total of those who took out petitions at 12. In Newport Beach,

only half that many have pulled papers, a discrepancy that could be

attributed to the open-mindedness of Costa Mesa and the way elections

are set up in that city -- where council members are elected at large

-- Cowan said.

“We’ve traditionally been a very open city to new ideas and people

participating in the process,” Cowan said.

Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway said the few people pulling

papers in his city could have something to do with the incumbents’

clout. No one else has pulled papers in Bromberg’s district, and only

Dolores Otting has pulled papers in Councilman John Heffernan’s

district.

“In Bromberg’s seat, I would understand,” Ridgeway said. “He’s got

strong name identity, strong public opinion -- I wouldn’t even expect

anybody in that district. But in John Heffernan’s seat, John is

certainly vulnerable, as is Steve Rosansky. But Steve Rosansky’s

district has never had a lot of people who make applications or pull

papers and run for office. It’s just been a fairly nonactive

district.”

The deadline to qualify is Friday, unless an incumbent decides not

to run. Then the deadline is extended to Aug. 11.

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

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