Election 2012: Democratic Club to use old Boom Boom Room location
Laguna Beach Democrats will be drumming up support for their candidates with a temporary headquarters in the old Boom Boom Room.
The Laguna Beach Democratic Club will be open for business from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., Aug. 1 to Nov. 15, on the ground floor of the 3,000-square-foot vacant restaurant and bar area. Activities will include informal gatherings and distribution of literature.
Realtor Audrey Prosser, a former club president, applied for the temporary-use permit, which was approved by the Planning Commission at the July 11 meeting.
Prosser’s name popped up as a possible City Council candidate in a recent telephone survey.
“I gave it a lot of consideration to running,” Prosser said Wednesday. “I would like to serve the city, but it’s too much of a commitment at this time, unless something dramatically changes.”
The club also used a portion of the premises for the 2008 election and the Old Pottery Place in 2004 when it was being renovated.
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Campaigning at City Hall
A city personnel policy prohibits city employees from engaging in, encouraging or assisting in political campaigning on any city property, while on duty, or while in a city uniform. Employees also are not allowed to use their official city title or position in connection with political campaign literature or activities.
The prohibition does not apply to employees’ activities on their own time and under their own names, said City Manager John Pietig, who is banned from any participation by the ethics code for city managers.
Employee associations, which do not conduct business on city time, are also exempt from the policy.
The Laguna Beach Police Employees’ Assn. is conducting interviews with the candidates to determine which, if any, it will endorse, President and Det. Larry Bammer said.
“We have interviewed Steve Dicterow,” Bammer said.
Mayor Jane Egly, Councilwoman Verna Rollinger and Planning Commissioner Bob Whalen were unable to make their original appointments and will be rescheduled, Bammer said.
“We will make an announcement by the first week of August,” he said.
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