Appointment still any councilman’s guess

Deirdre Newman

Last year, Steve Rosansky was appointed to the council on members’

first ballot.

Tonight, as the council tries to replace Gary Adams, the ease of

Rosansky’s appointment is a distant memory, and it’s anybody’s guess

how many ballots it will take.

The difference between then and now is the large number of visible

candidates and the fierce competition behind the scenes, Councilman

Steve Bromberg said.

“I would not bet the farm that we are even going to be able to

appoint someone [tonight],” Bromberg said. “I just don’t know. It’s

so diverse out there. There’s lots of lobbying by third parties in

favor of other people.”

The nine hopefuls vying to be appointed are: John Blom, a Corona

del Mar photography studio owner; Timothy Brown, chair of the English

and speech communication department at Riverside Community College

and a Parks, Beaches and Recreation commissioner; Michael Browning,

owner of a real estate firm; Leslie Daigle, a planning commissioner

and owner of a land-use consulting business; Barry Eaton, a planning

commissioner and retired planning director; Charles Griffin, a

retired aviation engineer; Gerald Hegger, an independent insurance

agent; Richard Luehrs, president of the Newport Beach Chamber of

Commerce; and Ron Winship, owner of a film-production company.

Each candidate will get 25 minutes for an interview, but they

don’t usually last that long, Bromberg said. Both Bromberg and Mayor

Tod Ridgeway agree that how the candidates handle themselves during

the interview will carry a lot of weight.

“It’s important for me to hear each person and how they answer the

questions and how they present themselves in a public forum,”

Ridgeway said. “And until I hear that, I have to say I’m keeping an

open mind on this one. I think I have to.”

Last week, the council decided on a voting process -- suggested by

Rosansky -- for choosing the appointment.

Any candidate who receives no votes on a ballot will be

eliminated. And at least two candidates have to receive five votes to

eliminate candidates who receive one or no votes on that ballot.

If council members can’t agree on an appointment tonight, they

will continue the process to their regularly scheduled meeting of

Sept. 28. If no one is appointed on or before Oct. 1, a special

election will be called to find a replacement.

Hopefully, it won’t come to that, Bromberg said.

“My sense is we’ve got to appoint someone and not put the people

through a special election,” Bromberg said. “I don’t think it would

be a healthy situation. It would be costly, and there would be three

months, maybe longer, without a [replacement].”

Adams’ district includes the Upper Newport Bay, Eastbluff, newly

incorporated areas in Santa Ana Heights and areas near the airport.

He resigned Sept. 1 to relocate his family to Washington, D.C., for a

job promotion.

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

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