Women’s council control over

Dave Brooks

The reign of women on the Huntington Beach City Council will soon

come to an end.

All of the challengers seeking one of the three spots, all

currently held by females, are men ending a two-year rule that gave

women on the council a super majority to their male counterparts.

Currently five women and two men make up the board, but that ratio

will change with a resignation and term limits.

In July, Councilwoman Connie Boardman announced that she would not

run for reelection, and Councilwoman Pam Julien Houchen will be

termed out in November after eight years on the council.

Councilwoman Debbie Cook’s position is also up for grabs, but she

has filed her candidate information and plans to run again. In the

unlikely event that she loses, the council would switch to a super

majority of men with only Councilwomen Cathy Green and Jill Hardy

remaining, since all 15 challengers are males. If Cook wins, the

council make-up will be four men and three women.

Not that the alliances particularly matter.

“The council always changes every two years, whether men or women

come on board, and the dynamics doesn’t seem to be linked to anyone’s

sex,” said Cook. “Besides, I grew up with four brothers, so I really

don’t think it matters.”

The super majority of women was created in 2002 when Green and

Hardy were elected and began to serve with Cook, Houchen and

Boardman, creating the first ever majority of women on the council.

Norma Brandel Gibbs was the first woman elected to the council in

1970, and later went on to be the city’s first female mayor.

While the five current female members share a cordial

relationship, council minutes show there has never been a 5-2 vote

split down gender lines. On about a half-dozen occasions, Hardy,

Green, Boardman and Houchen have acted as a voting block, but with

dozens of issues being voted on each month, the four-woman alliance

is rather insignificant compared with all the votes taken by the

council.

That doesn’t convince former Public Works Commissioner Dean

Albright, who was removed from his position by Boardman after he sent

out an e-mail accusing women council members of colluding to protect

Houchen. The FBI and U.S. attorney’s office are currently looking

into whether Houchen converted several apartments in condominiums

without the proper permits.

Boardman was insulted by Albright’s accusation, but on Friday,

Albright said he stood by the statements. He said he believed a

majority of men on the council “would have a little more focus on

city business than other social issues that women address” because

“that’s their thing.”

Hardy disagreed, saying gender does not play into things.

“I’ve never voted in terms of what I thought a girl would want or

what I thought a man would want,” she said. “In the end, I just hope

there will be seven good people on the council.”