POLITICS ASIDE:

I do this too much. But, once again, I find myself having to compliment staff members at Newport Beach City Hall for the city’s website.

This time, my cause for praise is the city’s handling of City Council-candidate and ballot-measure information. It’s easy to access, it provides candidate statements and arguments about the ballot measures and, best of all, includes photos of all 13 candidates. (And you have to love the Flash fade-in to the individual candidate profiles. Nice touch.)

It really is a good source for voters. Newport Beach City Clerk LaVonne Harkless — who I know will deny that she knows me well at all! — and her team deserve a pat on the back, and Costa Mesa would do well to emulate what Newport has put together.

Here are just a few random thoughts when looking through the candidate pages, in the order they are on the site.

The first, and overall one: Has anyone ever written a compelling candidate statement?

Michael Henn: It notes, in response to “Years of Residency in City,” that he’s been a “homeowner in NB since 1994.” I assume that’s different from living here. On an up note, he’s a graduate of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., a city that, at least when I knew about it back in college in neighboring Indiana, had a flying ear of corn as its symbol. Cool stuff, that ear.

Marcia Dossey: It’s got a lot less information than most of the others. But of the candidates, she is the one who has lived in town the longest.

Brenda Martin: Oh my! A journalist. Do I even have to wave the red flags? And yes, I’m kidding. She comes right out and says she won’t be the special interest candidate. I wonder how that will play in this most crowded of the races. It will take the fewest votes to win this seat.

Jack Wu: I would have used a third exclamation point in response to “Names and ages of children”: “Expecting triplets!!” Get it? Three kids, three exclamation points? It also has got to be noted: Wu’s 35. That puts him a full nine years younger than any other candidate. Is that a problem? I don’t know. But I have been hearing more and more talk about the changing of the guard in Newport politics. Is this the first obvious sign of that?

Don Webb: Well, there’s his hat in the photo. Oh, and the fact that he’s running unopposed. Enjoy your second term, Mr. Mayor!

Leslie Daigle: The lawsuit with Irvine seems to be a major card she’s playing. I also assume she had to put “appointed” before “councilwoman” under “Occupation.” If not, I would have left that off.

Barbara Venezia: I like that she gives her age but then only her date of birth. Makes you work for the year. She also has “Life Experience” as part of her “Education and Training.” I think anyone who has encountered her knows that is absolutely true.

Robert Schoonmaker: OK, so what is it with “journalists” running for office? Schoonmaker lists his “Occupation” as “Investigative Political Writer.” The beauty of that? He didn’t submit a candidate statement.

Ed Selich: His list of city committee work is impressive, no doubt. He writes that he has “qualifications from all perspectives of municipal government that no other candidate possesses.” It’s hard to argue with that.

Nancy Gardner: She has the best answer to the “Years of Residency in City” question: “Born here.” And she led her candidate statement with what I would have used: her father. Being Judge Gardner’s daughter is a big leveler when it comes to name recognition in a race against an incumbent.

Dick Nichols: His candidate statement is in the third person. That reads quite differently when you go through all of them at once. It also is instructive to see just how much he sets himself against the council majority.

Dolores Otting: Uh oh, I think Otting may have jumped on the Realtor bandwagon a little too late. She got her real estate license just this year! She does do a good job of showing her credibility as a candidate by starting her candidate statement with all the votes she received two years ago.

Keith Curry: Curry’s candidate statement may have the best rhetoric in using the phrase that he “answered the call to serve our City.” What’s the Reagan Alumni Assn.?

By the way, I was at both cities’ websites looking for candidate information, and specifically e-mail addresses, because we are getting ready to do our candidate endorsement interviews. I figure there is about 20 hours worth of meetings between the two cities.

Those interviews will be coming soon. The candidates will hear about them first. Readers can expect to see our endorsements soon after.