THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:Musical chairs, but little harmony

The Costa Mesa City Council managed on Tuesday to come up with a unanimous vote to create a youth civics program, but don’t think it’s the beginning of a new era of post-partisanship.

Why not? Well, here’s an example of a burning city issue the council will debate at a future meeting: seating arrangements. As it stands, the seating arrangements when you face the council are left-to-right as follows: the city attorney, Katrina Foley, Wendy Leece, Mayor Allan Mansoor, Eric Bever, Linda Dixon and the city manager.

But Mansoor has asked Dixon, who sits to his left on the right-hand end of the five-member council, to trade seats with Leece, who sits on the other end of the council. The ostensible reason was so Leece could sit next to the city manager, who could help her if she had any questions at meetings. Mansoor said it’s been “standard practice” with past councils to put newer members closer to the city manager.

But Dixon didn’t think it was necessary, and she apparently felt marginalized by the proposal.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate that council member [Katrina] Foley and I be off to the side,” said Dixon, who is often on the losing end of 3-2 votes with Foley.

Dixon suggested that Leece switch chairs with Foley, who now sits on the left-hand end between Leece and the city attorney. But Mansoor wouldn’t go for it and instead said he’ll bring the change back as an agenda item. Guess how that vote will turn out.

BILLABLE IDEAS

Congress is expected to address some “hot topics” this session as well, according to recent reports from Newport Beach Rep. John Campbell.

His weekly e-mail newsletter has highlighted bills such as one that would “prohibit the import, export and interstate commerce in bear gall bladders and bile” to end the use of bear organs for rituals, and a measure that would allow people to pay more taxes if they want to.

To be fair, not all the bills sounded unusual. One would make auto insurers share data when cars are declared a total loss so potential buyers in other states would have access to the information, and another that would create an address list to opt out of getting junk mail, similar to the “Do Not Call” list.

As in the past, the most important issue for Campbell will be bills to encourage fiscal responsibility. Next week he and other legislators in the conservative Republican Study Committee will unveil a package of legislation they’re calling the “taxpayer’s bill of rights.”

“None of that is likely to get anywhere under this Congress, but we want to at least begin the discussion of a collection of things that we think will protect taxpayers from future deficits, from future overspending, from future overtaxation,” Campbell said.

With Congress controlled by Democrats, it’s unclear what kind of success Campbell and others in the GOP will have with their bills. But they’ll keep plugging away.

As Campbell wrote of a bill to protect some large rocks off the coast of Laguna Beach, “OK, so it’s not going to bring world peace. But somebody’s got to do this stuff.”

CITY’S CREDIT RATING IMPROVES

Costa Mesa’s credit rating is improving, city officials said this week. Because of the city’s conservative budgeting and regular financial reviews, its rating was upgraded both by Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s Investor Services.

Costa Mesa becomes one of 45 cities in the state with a rating of AA from Moody’s. The better rating means the city can get lower interest rates when borrowing money for projects such as the Police Department building expansion. Officials estimate the city could save between $30,000 and $75,000 a year on the $30 million in bonds issue for the police department expansion.