Local Elections : Campaign Marked by Personalities, Not Issues : 3 Incumbents, 10 Challengers Seek Poway Council Seats

In a campaign marked more by attitudes and personalities than by clear-cut issues about this city’s future, 10 challengers and three incumbents are wrestling for control of the City Council here.

Just about everyone involved in the race leading to the Nov. 4 election is saying the big issue is growth--yet no one is saying that unbridled growth is good and no one is finding major faults with the existing general plan.

However, there are about as many secondary issues as there are candidates, giving voters the choice of either supporting those candidates who represent their pet interests or selecting candidates for their overall approach to municipal government leadership.

The three incumbents seeking another four years in office are:

- Carl Kruse, 40, who was appointed to the City Council after Clyde Rexrode was posthumously elected in 1982. (Rexrode died on the eve of the election.) Kruse, a 13-year Poway resident, is an executive with the Bank of Rancho Bernardo and now serves as mayor.

- Linda Oravec, 41, who was elected when the city incorporated in 1980 and was reelected in 1982. Oravec has lived in Poway 14 years and is the executive director of a senior citizens organization.

- Mary Shepardson, 41, who also was elected in 1980 and reelected two years later. Shepardson has lived in Poway for 37 years and is the editor of Ranch and Coast magazine.

The challengers are Linda Brannon, 39, who operates a quarter horse brood mare ranch with her husband; Joan W. Calton, 48, a corporate comptroller; Walter J. Champagne, who qualified for the ballot but did not file a candidate’s statement with the city; Bruce Hamilton, 34, a quality control superintendent for an aerospace firm; Don Higginson, 31, a lawyer; Allan D. Kozakiewicz, 44, a civilian Navy employee; Brian Quinn, 51, an investment counselor; Barry P. Stratton, 31, a corporate credit investigator; Roger Willoughby, 51, a Veterans Administration Hospital engineer, and Frank A. Zemke, 68, a retired architect.

Brannon, who has lived here 15 years, boasts of having raised--and spent--far more money than any of the other candidates and asserts that her aggressive campaigning style will serve her well as a council member. However, her fund-raising efforts have led to charges that her campaign treasury is bankrolled by developers’ interests who hope to win a friend on the council.

Brannon flatly dismisses those allegations as unfounded charges by envious incumbents who wish they could raise as much.

“It’s not my problem if they can’t raise more money,” said Brannon, who has so far raised more than $12,000 for a job that will pay $400 a month.

By contrast, Kruse has raised nearly $5,000 and Shepardson and Oravec about $3,300 each through Sept. 30, campaign statements show.

Brannon says that about 20% of her contributions are from developers, but she characterizes them as local custom-home builders and long-established friends rather than out-of-town subdivision developers.

“No one has asked me to change the community plan, and nobody better try, because I’m fiercely independent,” she said. She countered that a greater percentage of the incumbents’ campaign funds, although they represent smaller dollar amounts, have come from developers.

Brannon said the real issue of the campaign is not the source of her campaign funding but the need for new leadership in Poway. “It’s time for a change, some new thoughts,” she said.

The same argument is made by Higginson, who is considered the second-most-serious contender among the non-incumbents because he had raised about $3,900 through Sept. 30, the most recent period for campaign financial reports.

“The underlying issue in this campaign is that the City Council has a very arrogant, egotistical attitude. They have a Titanic attitude of unsinkability and treat everyone with disrespect,” said Higginson, who has lived in Poway 19 years. “There are no major issues that will make or break anyone in this election, but there’s an attitude problem on the council that people say they want to change.”

Stratton, said by the council candidates to be the third most serious contender among the challengers, moved to Poway two years ago from Santa Monica. He says he is most qualified for the council “because I know what the people want; I’m the most in tune.” His campaign theme has been better relations with neighboring cities.

Shepardson says she and the other incumbents deserve reelection because “the issue is: Have we been doing a good job? The City of Poway and its council have established a very good reputation for themselves.”

Nothing about the course of city government calls out for a change in direction, she maintains.

“Over the past six years, the council has demonstrated they are meeting the needs of the community,” Oravec said. About the council’s attitude toward its constituents, she remarked: “How can you be arrogant on $400 a month?”

Kruse said a vote for the incumbents is a reaffirmation of the city’s decision in 1980 to incorporate in order to reduce the amount of growth approved by the county. He acknowledged the perception that the city has grown dramatically under the current council’s leadership, but he noted that many developments, including two major residential neighborhoods, had been approved by the county before Poway incorporated and, therefore, could not be prevented by the City Council.