Hansen: Candidates see ugliness in Laguna political races

The real winner in the Laguna Beach City Council race was disappointment.

Regardless of Tuesday’s results, several candidates agreed: This year’s campaign was grueling and mostly frustrating.

“This was a bad one,” said longtime Laguna resident and Councilman Kelly Boyd. “This has got to be the worst one I’ve ever been involved in.”

Like other candidates, Boyd was overwhelmed by the interminable debates, number of hopefuls and variety of distractions.

“Number one, why should we have seven different forums?” he asked. “It just doesn’t make sense. I didn’t go to the last one. I told them it was just way too much.”

Councilwoman Toni Iseman agreed that the campaign season was unnecessarily exhausting.

“It was a very, very difficult campaign,” she said. “The negativity has been remarkable. How could you talk a rational person into running for office with the kind of campaign we’ve just had?”

With more media coverage than perhaps at any other time in the city’s history (two daily newspapers, four weeklies, numerous online outlets and a full-time local radio station), the demands on the candidates were unrelenting.

Eager political newcomers added to the frenzy, plus the Jon Madison resume controversy, which seemingly derailed the momentum of the race midway through.

“I think the Jon Madison thing was not healthy for the race,” said Boyd, who initially supported Madison but eventually pulled back after the candidate was accused of fabricating parts of his educational and employment history.

Madison was unavailable for comment.

Other candidates are just happy it’s over.

“I feel so relieved,” said Michele Hall, who was shell-shocked by the financial realities of the race. “It’s ridiculous how much people spend in our little town of 24,000 people. If I say I’m a fiscal conservative, I’m not going to spend a bunch of money that I shouldn’t be spending.”

For Hall, the lesson learned was to not underestimate the influence of cash.

“I wish I had raised more money,” she said. “I compare myself to the stock market, and people don’t want to invest in a risky stock. When you don’t have the same name recognition as an incumbent, it’s harder to raise money.”

Hall said she was happy with her progress once the campaign started rolling. She had her first validation in the media with a negative letter to the editor.

“When I got my first letter to the editor, I went, ‘Yes, I’m a threat,’” she said. “Because they don’t write about people they don’t care about. I must be such a threat because they took a full page ad out on me this week.”

Candidate Paul Merritt was also flabbergasted by the financial support — even suggesting some suspicious activity.

“There is more machine politics in town than ever,” he said. “And I’m beginning to learn that a lot of the money that’s come into the campaign has come from sources that I would consider with very little interest in our community. I don’t want to elaborate on that because some of them might be under investigation.”

On the bright side, Merritt said he was encouraged by the overall positiveness of the community.

“It’s very gratifying that the general citizens in Laguna are so active and very concerned about keeping Laguna Laguna,” he said.

That conclusion echoed Hall’s canvassing efforts and Iseman’s discussions with residents.

Iseman characterized as a myth “that the people who have moved to Laguna want it to change,” especially newcomers.

“They love the mass and scale of Laguna,” Iseman said. “They love our downtown. It’s not broken. Does it need some polishing? Does it need some work? Yes. But the idea of wholesale change or dissatisfaction has not been there in any of the people that I’ve met.”

If anything needs changing, according to Boyd, it’s the political action committees that have gained unprecedented power.

“Another thing that bothered me was PACs putting people together,” he said. “Something came out showing me and Rob (Zur Schmiede) and Toni together. They don’t have to call you and ask you to do it; they can just do it. And I don’t like that.”

Boyd said he had no problem with PACs supporting candidates, but “do I want to be tied to them? Not necessarily.”

He added, “Let me run alone, and let everybody else run alone unless they’re running as a team. But don’t tie me to somebody that I don’t want to be tied to.”

The politicking, distractions and demands have most of the candidates worried about future races. It’s clear the atmosphere has changed. It’s no longer about who has the best ideas to improve the city but rather how to bring a candidate down.

“I hope that we will find it’s safe to be a public servant in Laguna Beach,” Iseman said.

I think the answer may be no, and the city will suffer for it.

DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at davidhansen@yahoo.com.