And our choices are ...

S.J. CAHN

The lists are complete.

No need to check them twice.

Our Newport and Costa Mesa city council candidates are present and

accounted for, all 18 of them -- including the winner of the “I don’t

have to worry” contest, Newport Beach City Councilman Steve Bromberg,

unopposed in his reelection bid.

The other 17 aren’t so fortunate. They have to spend money and do

battle. But fortune will shine on them in one sense: They’ll have the

chance to come into the Daily Pilot and convince the paper’s

editorial board why they are the right candidates for the job.

As usual with such comments, I’m being sarcastic.

But, kidding aside, the days the editorial board -- this time

around it includes Publisher Thomas H. Johnson, Editor Tony Dodero,

City Editor Danette Goulet and me -- spends talking to the candidates

are some of its most important. And they are some of the most

deliberative.

Without stressing the point too much, I don’t want anyone to doubt

that we take these interviews seriously -- or approach them fairly.

We wrestled with the race in 2002 between Don Webb and Alan Beek, for

instance, eventually choosing the controlled-growth,

Greenlight-backed Beek. That proves we’re not necessarily the best

prognosticators.

We’ll be wrestling with choices again, especially in Costa Mesa,

where there are a number of candidates who have been involved in

public service and are worthy of serious consideration.

Couldn’t any of these names fill the seats well? Bruce Garlich,

Katrina Foley, Mirna Burciaga, Councilman Mike Scheafer, Eric Bever

and Linda Dixon.

Might there be a gem among the lesser-known hopefuls? Sam Clark,

Karl Ahlf, Michael Clifford, Richard Carroll and Terry Shaw.

Keep in mind, there are only three seats open.

And what might we do when Councilman Chris Steel walks in our

door? He’s criticized us, we’ve criticized him. Heck, we’ve both done

it more than once.

What we will do is give him the same, fair hearing we give

everyone else.

In Newport Beach, the numbers are less but the difficulty isn’t.

Councilman Steve Rosansky has done, by most accounts, a fine job on

the council. But might Catherine Emmons or John Buttolph strike us as

better choices?

Could frequent council critic Dolores Otting make a better

impression on us than Councilman John Heffernan?

It’s possible, and that’s why the days we spend interviewing the

candidates are so important and, in many ways, so thrilling.

We get to hear a wide range of ideas about the community and

what’s right and what’s wrong. And we get to hear some pretty far-out

ideas on how to make things better.

Every now and then, we get to hear how we could be doing things

better, too.

This time around, we’ll be doing our interviews in early September

and printing our endorsement editorials soon after. That way, those

who want to trumpet our support can do so. And those who maybe want

to trumpet that we didn’t choose them can do so, too.

The interviews will be set up on a first-come, first-served basis.

Invitations will go out at the same time to make it fair.

And that, again, is the name of this game. We mean to provide a

fair hearing of the people hoping to serve you. And then we’ll let

you know what we think.

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

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