Oceanside Victors May Give Mayor Voting Bloc

The election of former Councilwoman Lucy Chavez and Planning Commissioner Ben Ramsey to the City Council promises to cement what could become a powerful voting bloc for Mayor Larry Bagley on the five-member body.

The victories by Chavez and Ramsey, who finished one-two in the balloting, could affect city policies ranging from redevelopment to how to handle flood control. Their election spoiled the attempted political comeback of onetime City Hall power broker Melba Bishop and sent Councilman Ted Marioncelli into political retirement.

Chavez garnered more than 19% of the vote while Ramsey received about 16.5%. Bishop, a one-term councilwoman from 1980-84, collected nearly 16% and Marioncelli, a Bishop ally seeking his second full term in office, received about 14.5% of the vote. The next closest candidate in the packed field of 19 was former Councilman Bill Bell, who got about 6.5% of the vote.

Meanwhile, a much-debated proposal for a municipal charter, Proposition R, suffered a resounding defeat, gaining only a 38% share in the final tally of ballots, which was not completed until early Wednesday morning.

Ramsey and Chavez expressed happiness over their victory and relief that the long, hard-fought campaign was finally over. While both candidates have promised to work as independent-minded representatives, the new council members are widely viewed to be ideologically aligned with Bagley and Councilman Sam Williamson.

“I’m prepared to work with all of them as long as it’s in the best interest of Oceanside,” Chavez said.

Marioncelli and Bishop, meanwhile, each blamed their defeat in large part on a last-minute “hit piece” circulated to residents throughout the city by a group representing mobile home park owners in Oceanside. Park owners considered both candidates to be their arch-enemies because of their support for a rent control measure adopted by the City Council in July, 1982.

The mailer featured several caricatures of the two candidates, among them a drawing of Bishop holding Marioncelli like a puppet.

While that mailer was being circulated, Bishop said, Ramsey was benefiting from the positive publicity generated by four mailers that she said were funded by the park owners or the building industry.

Marioncelli agreed, saying he believes Ramsey and other council members now will consider abolishing the ordinance restricting mobile home rents.

“I really think that, for all practical purposes, the mobile home park owners bought the election,” Marioncelli said. “They’ve got their people in there now and they’ll have their way.”

A spokesman for the mobile home park owners in Oceanside could not be reached for comment.

Ramsey, meanwhile, insisted that the mailers were financed with funds from his own campaign budget, not as a favor by a political action committee associated with the Oceanside park owners.