Candidates, though few, focus on absentee votes

It’s so unlike Huntington Beach.

Fewer than seven candidates are running for four City Council seats in November. Add a quiet election season with next to no mudslinging and one has to wonder what’s going on in the city.

Council hopeful Joe Carchio, who finished a close fourth in the 2004 elections, offers one reason: “It’s very hard to butt heads with incumbents.”

“The four of them have done a decent job, so it’s harder to raise money and support,” he said.

A lot more people would have joined the campaign if Mayor Dave Sullivan had declared his decision not to seek re-election earlier, Carchio added. “He’s brought a lot of class to the council and he’ll be sorely missed.”

Councilwoman Jill Hardy thinks to an extent it is nice to know all the candidates so well, but she couldn’t really say whether it was for better or worse.

“It’s so strange for Huntington Beach to have so few candidates,” she noted.

Fewer candidates means there’s more opportunity for them to talk about issues they care about, candidate and Bolsa Chica Land Trust co-founder Flossie Horgan said.

Although it’s her first time running for council, Horgan has helped campaign for former mayors Connie Boardman, Ralph Bauer, Debbie Cook and current Mayor Sullivan.

“The whole point of this process is for citizens to know where the candidates stand on each issue,” she said.

Joe Shaw agreed.

“Of course incumbents are favored, but it gives you a chance to hear from the others who aren’t incumbents,” he said.

“Instead of 18 candidates, with just six people, you have a lot more time to talk about issues in forums,” Shaw said.

Councilwoman Cathy Green suggests that the resolution of the Bolsa Chica wetlands issue might have contributed to less interest in running for council elections.

Maybe.

“Incumbents running for Council elections never stopped anyone in Huntington Beach from running,” she pointed out.

The increase in absentee voters in Huntington Beach has definitely changed the way candidates, incumbent or not, campaigned for elections.

About a third of 122,792 registered voters in Huntington Beach are permanent absentee voters, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

“More and more people are voting absentee, including my husband, so I definitely have to pay attention to them,” Hardy said.

She said she is glad she took the year off from teaching at Huntington Beach High School to focus on her campaign.

“It’s a lot busier than what I remembered or expected, I’m not sure which one,” she said with a laugh.

Hardy is hoping to get as many as 30,000 fliers and signs out in the community by the time absentee voters receive their ballots — which should start happening today.

Carchio is busy working on more mailers to absentee voters, too.

“Absentee voting is going to be heavy,” he predicted.

Without a presidential election to bring out voters, absentee voters — mostly seniors — are the key to this election, Carchio said.

“A lot of senior citizens are intimidated by the electronic voting system and prefer to vote absentee,” he said.

Councilman Gil Coerper knows the absentee bloc’s importance but has decided to use a reverse strategy to conserve campaign money.

“Why should I spend $13,000 on mailers to absentee voters when other folks are doing the same thing?” he asked.

Coerper is banking on name recognition as a council member and attending community events — lots of them — to get his name and message out.

Horgan seems to be no stranger to name recognition either. With a 150 volunteers and more than $40,000 in campaign donations, Horgan appears to be focused and organized.

Running two parallel campaigns, one focusing on the absentee voter and another preparing for the final week in November, Horgan hit the streets in July.

There is no choice but to do so, Shaw said.

“If you know what you are doing, you know how important it is to get your message to those people,” Shaw said.

CANDIDATE ENDORSEMENTS

Here are a few of the key endorsements that candidates have received.

Joe Carchio — Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, County Supervisor Jim Silva and Mayor Dave Sullivan, former Mayor Ralph Bauer, Councilman Don Hansen, Steve Bone and Bob Mayer of the Robert J. Mayer Corp., Huntington Beach Union High School Trustee Matt Harper, and former mayors Harriet Wieder and Don MacAllister.

Gil Coerper — Incumbent. Endorsed by Huntington Beach Police Officers, Firefighters and Municipal Employees Assns., Rohrabacher, state Sen. Tom Harman, Silva, Mayor Sullivan, Council on Aging President Bob Dettloff, former mayors Shirley Dettloff and Bauer, Bone, Councilman Keith Bohr and Buena Park Mayor Art Brown.

Cathy Green — Incumbent. Endorsed by Huntington Beach Police Officers, Firefighters and Municipal Employees Assns.; Lincoln Club, Rohrabacher, Harman, Silva, Rep. John Campbell, Supervisor Tom Wilson, Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and Fountain Valley Mayor Cheryl Brothers, and Mayor Sullivan.

Jill Hardy — Incumbent. Endorsed by Police Officers and Firefighters Assns., Huntington Beach Tomorrow, Central Labor Council, League of Conservation Voters, Mayor Sullivan, Councilwoman Debbie Cook, former mayors Grace Winchell and Linda Moulton-Patterson, and school board Trustee Bonnie Castrey.

Flossie Horgan — Endorsed by Orange County League of Conservation Voters, Sullivan, Cook, Jill Hardy, Planning Commissioners Elizabeth Burnett and Bob Dingwall, former mayors Connie Boardman, Norma Brandel-Gibbs, Moulton-Patterson and Winchell.

Joe Shaw — Endorsed by the Municipal Employees Assn., Cook, the Orange County League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club.

Norm “Firecracker” Westwell -- None solicited.

Websites

cathygreen-4HB.com

— Compiled by Purnima Mudnal

Number Of Candidates In Previous Council Elections

Ballot information provided by City Clerk’s office

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