Column: Council races to watch in Newport and Costa Mesa

Who’s in, and who’s out, now that official candidate filings are completed^?

It certainly looks like a game of political musical chairs.

In Newport Beach, Mike Glenn came out of nowhere to challenge incumbent Councilwoman Diane Dixon in District 1.

Glenn and Dixon have some cantankerous history. He unsuccessfully sued Dixon and the city for slander in August 2017 after he claimed she falsely accused him in public of owing $619.93 in unpaid document request fees.

He lost the slander suit, but the judge ruled he didn’t owe the fees.

I talked with Glenn about his run now.

“We can’t have someone run unopposed. It removes the voice of the people if they don’t have options,” he said.

He claims to have received campaign pledges of $45,000 in just a week, which Glenn says indicates a number of residents aren’t happy with Dixon’s council history and that his candidacy “offers options.”

“I look forward to a rigorous campaign,” he said Monday after hearing he had qualified to be on November’s ballot.

Glenn confirmed he’ll be at the Feet to the Fire forum dealing with the Newport council race Sept. 20 at the Robert B. Moore Theatre at Orange Coast College.

This is the first time Dixon has faced opposition, running unopposed in 2014.

In April, Dixon was praised by many when she outed alleged shenanigans by fellow council members Scott Peotter, Kevin Muldoon, Mayor Marshall Duffield and Mayor Pro Tem Will O’Neill regarding their part in the early exit of City Manager Dave Kiff, which they deny.

But the praise for Dixon was short-lived.

Before candidate filings closed, Dixon endorsed those same fellow council members for reelection, but not before she received her own endorsement by the Orange County Republican Party Central Committee with the caveat that she’d agree to endorse those guys.

In Peotter’s race in District 6, things also took an interesting turn as candidate Mike Toerge dropped out, leaving only Joy Brenner to face Peotter.

Emails flew after Toerge’s decision, calling him a “hero” because many political watchers worried that if Toerge stayed in, he and Brenner would split votes against Peotter, guaranteeing him another win.

Toerge certainly made a commendable move here. I know it wasn’t an easy decision for him; in past conversations he relayed his passion to face Peotter again after he narrowly lost to him in 2014.

Moving on to Costa Mesa, Al Melone is out of the mayoral race. Councilman Allan Mansoor was in but dropped out to run for the District 5 seat.

That leaves current Mayor Sandy Genis vs. councilwoman and dethroned former mayor Katrina Foley to battle it out.

Will this race play out like an adaptation of the hit Broadway show “Mean Girls”?

I asked Mansoor about switching lanes.

Did he not want to get in the middle of this cat fight?

Or is he hedging his bets with a better chance of a district win against candidates Arlis Reynolds and Rebecca Trahan?

He says no to it all.

Mansoor moved to the district with his wife and three kids almost a year ago and has lived in Costa Mesa most of his life. He says his opposition to the Orange County Needle Exchange Program and a portable toilet proposal made his decision. These issues pose hazards not only to his children but the entire city, he says.

Trahan also is passionately against the needle-exchange program and feels the current council hasn’t done enough to stop it.

Mansoor says the council has been proactive on the issue. This month it decided to join Orange County in a lawsuit seeking to stop the state-approved needle exchange from operating and then put a 45-day moratorium on all needle exchanges in the city.

This will certainly be discussed at the Sept. 17 Feet to the Fire for Costa Mesa.

Mansoor has two years left on his current council term, for which he was elected “at large” — by voters citywide — in 2016. If he wins District 5 — elected by voters only in that district — it will give him another four-year term. If he loses, he still will finish the two years.

Trahan isn’t buying Mansoor’s reasoning for entering her district race, saying “it’s bad for Costa Mesa and Republicans.”

“I don’t like it; it’s dirty and he needs to stay in his seat,” she told me.

If Mansoor and/or Genis wins, the city will have to decide whether to appoint someone or hold a special election for the remaining terms on their current seats. Genis’ also expires in 2020.

Appointments could change the political makeup of the council — even after voters have weighed in — which makes those two races the ones to watch.

Also, there was an unexpected change in Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s campaign organization this week.

Checking in with consultant Michael Schroeder to see if Rohrabacher will agree to an interview and attend the planned Feet to the Fire on Sept. 22 about the 48th Congressional District race, Schroeder emailed, “I am no longer handling this project; please follow up with Dale Neaugebauer.”

Schroeder didn’t say whether he’ll stay on in another capacity for Rohrabacher.

Neaugebauer and I plan to speak next week.

BARBARA VENEZIA is an opinion columnist writing political and social commentary since 2007. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com.