THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:Support for rehab-home reform bills

A bill to better regulate drug and alcohol recovery homes got a boost Tuesday when Dana Point City Council members voted unanimously to support it, but some Newport Beach residents are hoping to see the bill changed before it reaches a vote in the state Senate.

State Sen. Tom Harman, whose district includes Newport Beach, proposed one of about 10 bills in the state Legislature this session that address various aspects of group homes, such as drug and alcohol recovery facilities. Harman’s bill would require such homes operated by the same business or person to be at least 300 feet apart.

That sounded good to council members in Dana Point, where — like in Newport Beach — residents are concerned about over-concentration of the recovery facilities. But in Newport Beach, residents at the first meeting of a city committee to address rehab facilities asked that Harman’s bill be beefed up to restrict facilities within 1,000 feet of each other regardless of who owns them.

“We want more teeth in this bill, and that’s where we’re going to get our relief,” resident Lori Morris said. “It’s a good bill, but there are things that need to be changed.”

But others think a more cautious approach will make the bill more likely to pass. “Definitely people want more. The problem is that there are so many legal ramifications of even moving this little bit forward,” Dana Point Mayor Diane Harkey said. “If we loaded this bill up with a lot of our true wish list, it wouldn’t even see the light of day out of committee.”

Harkey said the Dana Point council also voted to give $5,000 to lobbying efforts to promote the bill.

Newport Beach’s committee is expected to meet within the next week, but a date has not been set.

SEAT CHANGE APPROVED

Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Linda Dixon will switch seats with Councilwoman Wendy Leece, the council decided Tuesday in a first-ever vote on seating arrangements on the dais.

The change, made in a 3-1 vote with Dixon dissenting and Councilwoman Katrina Foley abstaining, will take effect at the April 3 council meeting.

Leece, who joined the council in November, said she requested the switch so she can sit next to City Manager Allan Roeder to get information during meetings. When the issue came up March 6, Dixon refused to change, saying she didn’t think it was appropriate for her and Foley to be off to the side as if they’re irrelevant.

On Tuesday she criticized Mayor Allan Mansoor for pushing the change without contacting her.

“It was a very poor show of leadership and very discourteous to me,” she said.

Some residents have ridiculed the council for this latest illustration of their inability to get along — on his website, blogger Byron De Arakal referred to council members as “grade schoolers” and “booger munchers.”

Foley abstained from voting on the seat switch because “I don’t think this is a matter of city business.”

Mansoor also asked the city attorney to write up a new policy giving the mayor the power to choose council members’ seats, after hearing their input. No formal policy exists on seating, and the council would have to vote to adopt such a policy.

REP. CAMPBELL ON ATTORNEY GENERAL

Huntington Beach Rep. Dana Rohrabacher sounded off last week about Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales, saying he should be dismissed for how he handled the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and other issues. Rohrabacher was one of only a few GOP legislators to go so far, and for now at least, Rep. John Campbell won’t be joining him.

“I haven’t seen any hard evidence yet that would lead me to conclude that he should resign,” Campbell said this week.

While Rohrabacher was displeased with Gonzales’ performance on several issues, Campbell said he’s had no reservations about the attorney general and he doesn’t think many other Republicans want Gonzales out.

“My sense is also that this is what the Democrats promised they were going to do if they were elected — subpoena, charge and attack, and that’s what they’re doing,” Campbell said, adding that he thinks Democrats are trying to distract people from other issues, like a huge tax increase proposed in their budget.