Candidate loses bid for ballot language

If you weren’t able to attend the Feet to the Fire forums, both are now online at feet2thefireforum.com.

I urge voters to watch and share the links of these lively and informative discussions regarding Newport Beach (bit.ly/2bCHPj2) and Costa Mesa (https://bit.ly/2bQjT95.)

Kudos and thanks to my co-host, Tom Johnson, as well as Orange Coast College, NBTV, KOCI 101.5 FM and the Daily Pilot for collaborating with me on two of the best shows to date in this series.

As the heat of the forums cool, flames of controversy ignite in the Newport city clerk’s office.

On Aug. 19 council candidate Mike Glenn received an email from City Clerk Leilani Brown that read, “In reviewing your Candidate Statement in more detail, I have concerns about the following sentence: Even after our last election, we have had our newly elected councilmembers vote to increase taxes, attack property rights, all while pushing large development projects which would greatly impact both our views and our traffic flows. Due to the Registrar of Voters printing schedule, please provide me with specific supporting information relative to this sentence by noon on Wednesday, August 17, 2016.”

Glenn wrote back saying the statement had “nothing to do with any candidates,” as he was referring to seated council members.

“It is important that people know why I am running — the entire intent of the ballot statement,” he wrote.

Glenn was concerned that Brown’s email was dated Aug. 19, two days after the supposed deadline.

Brown tells me the actual deadline was Aug. 24, and that Aug. 17 was a typo, which she didn’t tell Glenn about because he responded to her the same day.

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FOR THE RECORD

An earlier version of this column stated that the supposed deadline was Aug. 19. It was Aug. 17.

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So, on Aug. 23, Glenn headed to the County’s Registrar of Voters office to sort this out.

Glenn says “they had no problem with my candidate statement, but it must be submitted to them by my city clerk.”

He says if the clerk won’t submit his statement as he wrote it, his only recourse is to sue the city.

Glenn says he believes clerk’s office is under pressure from Team Newport and its supporters to disregard his requests.

Brown tells me she treats all candidates equally and fairly.

“I discharge my duties independently, objectively, and even-handedly,” Brown says.

Recently, Newport candidate Jeff Herdman sued Newport Beach to overturn Brown’s determination he wasn’t eligible to hold a council seat, due to his service on the Civil Service Board (lat.ms/2bxzyeC)

He won, and during Feet to the Fire, Herdman placed the blame squarely on political activist Bob McCaffrey and his organization, Residents for Reform, as an attempt to derail his campaign.

Speaking of McCaffrey, he’s submitted a direct argument to Brown’s office against Measure MM — the Taxpayer Protection Act — saying his organization feels it doesn’t “go far enough,” and urging a no vote.

That’s really weird since he supports the Team Newport slate, which wants MM to pass, even though the idea was first brought about by team opponent Councilman Keith Curry and now he’s been pretty much aced out of it.

“Vote No on Measure MM and send a message to Curry and Herdman that the city of Newport has too much debt,” McCaffrey writes.

Wait a minute. I thought it was a no-no to mention a candidate in these things?

And the ball of confusion keeps on rolling as a second direct argument against MM was submitted to Brown by Curry, Stop Polluting Our Newports’s Jean Watt, Herdman and council candidate Phil Greer.

On April 19, Brown sent them a letter saying she deemed their argument against the measure is actually one of support!

And since she already has an argument in support — it was submitted by Councilmen Scott Peotter and Kevin Muldoon, Mayor Diane Dixon, candidate and Finance Committee member Will O’Neill and Carolyn Cavecche — she legally has to accept the earliest submission. Greer’s came in second.

Greer says Brown has it all wrong and fired off a letter to her.

To include “opposition written by Bob McCaffrey instead of one written by my clients, denies them their right to speak out against the measure,” Greer writes, calling this “political gamesmanship” and a “disservice to the city and residents.”

I read what Greer’s group submitted. The letter objects to the fact that the “council majority hijacked this measure” from Curry and put their own names on it.

But the statement ends with the line, “Vote yes, but don’t be fooled again by the dishonest political posturing.”

Well, you can’t really have it both ways.

Brown says it’s her responsibility ensure all voter election material is accurate and complies with state and city laws.

And the latest news, this past Thusday, resident William Stewart is asking the courts to prevent council candidate Fred Ameri from using his nickname on the ballot. Stewart wants Ameri to use his given first name, Farrokh. Ameri is calling the demand “racist.” More on that next week.

Sounds like she has her job cut out for her, as the smoke of controversy isn’t clearing any time soon this election season.

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BARBARA VENEZIA lives in Newport Beach. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com.