NEWPORT BEACH CITY COUNCILUpdate: Gardner upsets Nichols

Four incumbents and two newcomers took the six seats on the Newport Beach City Council on Tuesday, nearly final election results Wednesday morning show.

For complete election results click here

The big news was the update in District 6, where longtime resident and city volunteer Nancy Gardner’s 56.3% of the vote took down Councilman Dick Nichols, an engineer who has often been at odds with the rest of the council in his four years on the dais.

“I’ve been sort of taking myself down all day,” Gardner said. “It’s almost like you’re placating the gods.”

She said her first priority if they hold up will be to set an agenda of environmental issues the city can tackle.

Businessman Michael Henn defeated opponents Marcia Dossey, Brenda Martin and Jack Wu in District 1. Henn will replace Councilman Tod Ridgeway, who is termed out of the District 1 seat. Henn had 42.5%, followed by Wu at 30.6%. Martin and Dossey trailed with 15.9% and 11%.

“The main issue, I think, was looking at my qualifications and background,” Henn said of his lead. “I think the skills that I have will play well on the City Council as issues come and go.”

All precincts were in Wednesday morning, and most absentee ballots had been counted.

Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, who faced voters for the first time since she was appointed to the District 4 seat in 2004, defeated Santa Ana Heights activist Barbara Venezia, who dropped out of the race in October after a probe into her finances that she called nasty politics. Daigle won 54.7% of votes, while Venezia got 45.3%.

Incumbents in Districts 5 and 7 also won, and Mayor Don Webb cruised to an unopposed victory in District 3.

Ed Selich, who was appointed to the District 5 seat in 2005, had the advantage over Robert Schoonmaker, an investigative political writer making his third run for the council. Selich had 65.2% to Schoonmaker’s 34.8%.

Another appointee, Keith Curry, was beating Dolores Otting, a watchdog who ran for the seat in 2004 and made a bid for the appointment Curry won in January. Curry took 53.% of the votes, and Otting had 47% in the second close race in that district in two years.

“I think that we’re going to have a good strong council emerge from this election that’s going to be very responsive to the community,” Curry said.

Having six of seven council seats on the ballot is unprecedented. It happened because of a series of resignations and appointments, but the council should now be back on a regular election cycle, with Districts 2, 5 and 7 on the ballot in 2008.

More money was raised in this election than ever before, with Henn reporting nearly $104,000 in his coffers.