Wu: My impressions of 2 of the ‘3Ms’

Really running for City Council is not easy, unless you are running unopposed in a Newport Beach council district.

I’m not talking about the activists who just throw their names in the hat, raise about $150, go to all the community forums and have absolutely no intention of actually winning.

I’m talking about running full bore, pedal to the ground, with a life-consuming fury. Calling your friends and family for money. Calling strangers for money. Then calling your friends and family for more.

After work, you knock on doors until the sun goes down and then walk again and again. You have people call you a bum and spend tens of thousands of dollars to show an unflattering picture of you to 13,000 households of voters.

You meet with the “big shots” of your city and beg for their endorsements. You miss your children, you miss your spouse.

All for what?

So that you can take care of that pothole in front of a multi-million dollar home? So every move you make can be scrutinized and criticized, and then demonized by “So and So for Responsible Government? or “So and so for Better Neighborhoods?”

To demonstrate how difficult running for council can be, former state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore ran for the Irvine council in 2002, and then for the Assembly two years later. He didn’t win the council seat, coming in fourth out of five candidates, but handily won the Assembly seat.

Did he show that running for Assembly is easier than for council?

So in an effort to understand the mental states of the Costa Mesa council candidates, I invited some of the new candidates for a chat and had the pleasure of meeting appointed Councilman Steve Mensinger, Planning Commission Chairman Colin McCarthy, businessman Harold Weitzberg, attorney John Stephens and former candidate Marshall Krupp (way before he dropped out of the race).

This week, I’ll give my impressions on McCarthy and Mensinger, and next week I’ll opine about my initial impressions on Weitzberg and Stephens.

McCarthy, even at 7:30 in the morning, seemed shot out of a cannon. The level of energy and passion about Costa Mesa politics actually took me aback, with me wondering whether I was that wide-eyed and enthusiastic when I ran for Newport Beach council in 2006. If I was, I apologize for all those whom I overwhelmed.

McCarthy seemed knowledgeable about Costa Mesa issues and, with his young family, definitely has a stake in its future. We talked about our political beliefs, our families and what he wanted to see Costa Mesa be, the difficulties in fundraising, but the most surprising thing that came out of our meeting was that he stated, then stated again, and then stated again, at my persistent re-questioning, that he, Mensinger, and Councilman Gary Monahan were not running on a slate together.

The “3Ms,” as I’ve seen them referred to, were each going to run their own individual campaigns, although may be grouped together by their opponents and their allies. While they may work together or hold joint fundraisers, they are all on their own for November. Their own signs, their own campaign literature, their own races.

So when I met with Mensinger the next morning, also at 7:30, the first thing out of my mouth was if it were true, that they were a slate. While he looked a bit puzzled, since they would be sharing the same political consultant, he did not disagree with McCarthy’s assertion, which, while they might share a few campaign tactics and ideas, each candidate would be on their own in November.

Although he’s an appointed incumbent, Mensinger really demonstrated the difference between a candidate and a council member, as far as the institutional knowledge of Costa Mesa’s municipal machinations. There were no questions that I asked of him that he could not confidently answer.

Our discussion at Coco’s on Harbor Boulevard and Adams Avenue must have been animated and loud enough for a neighboring diner stopping us midstream to complain about a supposed drug house. She said that the city wasn’t being responsive in checking it out, so Mensinger did what the other candidates could not actually do, write down the information, the address of the house to actually park nearby, personally check it out, and do something about it.

While most of the candidates can say what they’ll do if they get elected, Mensinger can actually do something about it, which is why the power of incumbency, albeit an appointed one, is the most important aspect for his first election.

McCarthy brings lots of passion to the table, while Mensinger brings the institutional knowledge that only an incumbent can have.

Both great guys. And next week, I’ll write about two more great guys.

Coming Aug. 19: Jack writes about meeting Stephens and Weitzberg.

JACK WU is an accountant who lives in Newport Beach and practices in Costa Mesa. He is a longtime Republican Party loyalist and a volunteer campaign treasurer for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa). His column runs Sundays on the Daily Pilot Forum page. He can be reached at jack@wubell.com.