FAIR GAME:Newport can stop the dirty politics

I wish you could do as I have and meet former City Council candidate Barbara Venezia face-to-face.

You may be among the lucky and already have.

You otherwise may remember her as the dingy redhead who along with Newport Beach’s John Crean starred in the humorous television cooking show “At Home on the Range.”

I had met Barbara several times in passing over the years. But about a month or two ago, I joined her and former Orange County Supervisor Harriet Wieder for lunch at the Center Club.

We began discussing politics.

Now if you don’t know Barbara, let me tell you, she is everything but a politician. She is real. She speaks her mind, and if it includes some fairly blunt wording, so be it. She seems honest to a fault. She doesn’t try to answer you with a politically correct statement; she simply tells you how it is.

This week Barbara withdrew from her Newport Beach City Council race much to my chagrin and, apparently, that of many others.

You see, politics is an ugly business.

Where Barbara stepped into the ring to do good in Newport Beach, others decided to make it dirty.

Her opponent, council appointee Leslie Daigle, had recently come into question in the community for several missteps.

First, Daigle reportedly confronted a security guard with a verbal attack at Corona del Mar High School while she was using the running track during unauthorized school hours.

Her blunt comments allegedly included a threat to deport the Latino school district security guard.

Another complaint circulated from Balboa Island about the same time. The report had Daigle telling a resident that her supposedly illegally parked car wouldn’t be towed because “she was a City Council person.”

Thus, two examples of what appears to be an above-the-law attitude.

While these accusations were stacking up against Daigle, Venezia was out running a campaign that began catching fire; the Daigle camp began to panic.

So Daigle, whose campaign is run by political consultant Dave Ellis, decided to respond with dirty politics.

The assault came in an attack on Barbara and her husband, who is the former owner of Rainbow Disposal, a Huntington Beach-based refuse company.

The inquiry through the city clerk’s office claimed that Barbara was potentially in violation of running for office because of a conflict in her and her husband’s ownership percentage of a company that does business with Newport Beach.

Barbara assured me that everything is within legal limits. She simply doesn’t want to play dirty politics.

Who can blame her?

You can imagine my disappointment then when Barbara entered my office this week and decided to pull herself out of the race.

I urged her to reconsider.

She didn’t.

But, residents of Newport Beach, you should know that Barbara’s resignation from the race is far from the answer to what’s best for our city.

I’ve asked myself over the years, why do we have Greenlight? Why do we now have Greenlight II?

It’s simple. The City Council has put up an appearance of being unresponsive to the residents. Think of this: Over the past number of years, many members of the City Council have run their campaigns through Ellis.

Then, one by one, when they resigned, new ones were appointed from the same camp. All becoming Ellis disciples.

Fast forward to 2006. We now have four of the six races this year being managed by Ellis.

Does that mean they’re all bad? Of course not.

Ed Selich, as a matter of fact, ranks at the top of my list.

But so far, in two of the four races, Ellis has gotten dirty.

But the old saying says that sometimes you have to fight city hall.

This week I’ve met with every city council candidate from Newport Beach and Costa Mesa and every candidate running for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board.

Barbara Venezia deserves to be on the City Council, and frankly, I don’t think Leslie Daigle does.

So what do we do? We need to defy the dirty politics; we need to rise up against the ilk of Ellis and his take-no-prisoners politics; we need to take back our city with strong representative government that listens to our residents and is responsive to their wants and needs.

Because it’s too late, Venezia’s name will still be on the November ballot. Don’t let the dream die, but more important, don’t let the bullies push our residents around.

As a protest to what’s happened in the past, on Nov. 7, vote Barbara Venezia.

Maybe this time they’ll get the message.