Familiar faces elected to Costa Mesa’s dais

Now that former Mayor Gary Monahan’s returning to the Costa Mesa City Council, he says one of his top priorities is to try to help tamp down some of the quarreling.

“One of my goals is to calm things down and make things run more smoothly,” Monahan said.

Monahan, Councilwoman Katrina Foley and Mayor Eric Bever were elected to Costa Mesa’s City Council in a tight race Tuesday.

Despite raising the most money and having strong backing from county Republican leaders, Planning Commissioner Jim Righeimer came in fourth place, losing by about 1,400 votes to Bever, who brought in 11,346 votes.

Foley’s victory broke up the three-man slate — Monahan, Righeimer and Bever — that the Republican Party of Orange County supported, leaving her the only Democrat on the council.

Monahan, who showed he still had plenty of support in the community, replaced outgoing Councilwoman and former Mayor Linda Dixon. Dixon decided not to run for reelection this year.

Although City Council seats are considered nonpartisan, some see the four Republican members of the council as an active majority that gained ground in this election.

Monahan, Foley and Bever don’t think that exchanging Dixon for Monahan will play a big role in charting a course for the future, though. Most of the council’s priorities were set unanimously, Foley said.

However, Bever and Foley have a history of arguing that many observers hope will change, and Monahan says that that’s the first thing on his agenda.

Since leaving the City Council two years ago, Monahan has served on the Costa Mesa Sanitary District board and says he plans to keep his spot on the board while serving on the council.

The electorate paid less attention to City Council races than it did to big-ticket contests like president and the ban on gay marriage, Proposition 8, as evidenced by voter turnout numbers in Costa Mesa.

“You don’t see things about [the council] all the time unless you’re into politics,” said Karen Arimeura, a Costa Mesa resident who came to the polls to cast her ballot for president, but didn’t vote for council.

Slate mailers sent out by the Republican Party telling party members to vote for Monahan, Bever and Righeimer seemed to play a big role in garnering votes for the three candidates.

Many voters interviewed by the Pilot after they voted said they chose all three.

Foley was included on a Democratic voter guide, but she did not have any formal alliances with the other five candidates, which gave her some pre-election jitters.

“There’s always the vote-splitting concern in any election. That was my biggest concern. People might vote for others thinking I’m already going to win,” Foley said.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.