Commentary: True district elections would even the playing field

Whew. What an election!

All the money spent on signs, slick mailers, commercials and other materials to get the word out was absolutely overwhelming to many in the city. However, because of the unique way that Newport Beach’s votes are counted, this kind of mega-campaigning for City Council seats is the way it must be.

Most cities hold either citywide council elections, where top vote receivers are elected to represent the city as a whole, or district-based elections, with each district directly electing its own member of the council.

Here, we have a strange blend of both: We mandate that candidates live within certain district boundaries, but we allow the entire city to vote on them. Sometimes people get elected to represent areas that actually voted for someone else.

In this election, it appears that Corona del Mar voted for Michael Toerge, and the rest of the city voted for Councilman-elect Scott Peotter. Peotter will soon represent CdM. In a previous election, former Councilman Steve Rosansky was elected to represent his area — but not by the area residents themselves.

While we’ve lucked out with these races in the past, the future may not be so forgiving.

Of course, the biggest problem that citywide, district elections create is the necessity of money. Lots of money.

We have seven districts in Newport Beach, which has a population of around 85,000. To reach a population that large, you need a serious bundle of dough. Councilman-elect Marshall “Duffy” Duffield raised more than $200,000 for his campaign, while Councilwoman-elect Diane Dixon raised over $85,000 before the election cycle even began.

Peotter raised a ton of money himself and dropped in an additional six figures of his own wealth to compete.

Now, nothing against any of our newly elected council people, and I am very glad they won, but do we really want a situation in which we need to have six-figure, citywide battles simply to run a campaign for a single district? Do we want a situation where money dictates winners — and whose money is it anyway?

I’d like to propose a change to district-based elections, rather than citywide elections. Each district has about 3,500 voters — a small enough amount that a single person can knock on at least a quarter of those doors, meeting the rest of the community through local events.

This would significantly reduce the amount of money needed to run for office and allow locals to really know their representative, while simultaneously reducing the effectiveness of special interests. Our representatives would also be keen to give their district personalized attention.

Each district of Newport should be electing its own representative — someone who knows the local issues intimately and the constituents personally. This change would require a ballot initiative — and I think we can do it.

What do you think?

Newport Beach businessman MICHAEL GLENN is a former City Council candidate.