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Laguna Beach council race draws 12 candidates; Fountain Valley has 8

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Twelve candidates have joined the race for three available Laguna Beach City Council seats, while eight people are geared up to compete for the three seats up for election on Fountain Valley’s council.

In Laguna Beach, Toni Iseman is running for her sixth term on the five-member council in the Nov. 6 election.

Rob Zur Schmiede, the current mayor pro tem, also is running for reelection.

Mayor Kelly Boyd is retiring from his seat and is not seeking reelection.

The candidates are:

  • Elizabeth (Liz) Bates: Laguna Beach-based entrepreneur and Realtor;
  • Peter Blake: owner of Peter Blake Gallery on Ocean Avenue;
  • Ann Christoph: landscape architect who was a City Council member in the early 1990s;
  • Sue Marie Connolly: former owner of Sue Marie’s Day Spa;
  • Toni Iseman: council member and the city’s longest-serving politician;
  • Sue Kempf: planning commissioner who has a background in business and management;
  • Cheryl Kinsman: certified public accountant who describes herself as a fiscal conservative;
  • Lorene “Laguna” Auger: community advocate;
  • Judie Mancuso: member of the California Veterinary Medical Board;
  • Allison Mathews: member of the city’s Affordable Housing Task Force;
  • Paul Merritt: businessman who has been a resident of Laguna Beach since the early 1960s;
  • Rob Zur Schmiede: council member running for his second term has a background in planning and development.

Fountain Valley extended its candidate filing deadline to Wednesday after one eligible incumbent, Larry Crandall, did not submit nomination paperwork.

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The five-member council appointed Crandall in February to complete the final 10 months of former council member Mark McCurdy’s term after he resigned this year. Crandall, who previously served on the Fountain Valley council from 1998 to 2012, said at the time of his appointment that he did not plan to run for election this fall.

Longtime Councilman John Collins is termed out, making Mayor Michael Vo the only incumbent in the field.

The candidates are:

  • Dave Osborn: president of the Coastline Community College Foundation, past president of the Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce and co-owner of Fountain Bowl;
  • Kim Constantine: local activist whose interests include the Fountain Valley Crossings rezoning project;
  • Tom Nguyen: member of the city’s Advisory Committee for the Disabled, chairman of the city Housing & Community Development Advisory Board and owner of Fountain Valley’s Integrity Escrow;
  • Glenn Grandis: longtime civic volunteer whose activities include Kiwanis, youth sports and several leadership roles in the Fountain Valley Community Foundation;
  • Patrick Harper: current Planning Commission member, a director of the Fountain Valley Schools Foundation and a partner with accounting firm Harper & Harper;
  • Nick Lecong: small-business owner;
  • Michael Vo: current mayor who owns a traffic school in Little Saigon;
  • Patrick Tucker: executive with Allen Tire Co. and a former planning commissioner.
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