Clingan Upsets Ex-Mayor Russell in Imperial Beach City Council Race

Imperial Beach politics, always simmering, reached the boiling point this week with an election Tuesday to fill a vacant council seat, a caucus on a recall petition set for Thursday, and a special Friday City Council meeting where the vice mayor is expected to be demoted to councilman.

In the election, political newcomer John Clingan upset former Mayor William F. (Bill) Russell by a comfortable 3-2 margin. According to final returns, Clingan received 1,223 votes to 812 for Russell. Nearly one-fourth of the city’s 8,485 registered voters cast ballots in the special election.

Russell lost the mayoral race in November to Mayor Henry B. Smith, one of three council members who form a ruling coalition. The special election was called to fill the seat Smith had held on the council before his election as mayor.

Meanwhile, adversaries of the mayor and two council members elected in November, angered by the apparent dismantling of beach restoration plans, intend to start work Thursday on a recall petition. It will try to unseat Smith, Councilwoman Tommie Schuette and Councilman John Mahoney. The three took office Dec. 2. Recall actions cannot be started until elected officials have served 90 days.

Since the three took office, City Atty. Clifton Reed and Planning Director James Sandoval have been fired, and the council has acted to increase Planning Commission membership from five to seven.

The election of Clingan will not upset the majority hold of the three on the council.

Russell, 55, a retired Navy officer, was thought to be the front-runner in Tuesday’s election because of name recognition from his five years on the council, including two years as mayor. His comeback plans were upset, however, by Clingan, 30, who campaigned hard and had support based on his work as executive director of the Imperial Beach Boys’ and Girls’ Club.

Charles Van Valkenburgh, 41, a project director with the National University Alumni Assn., withdrew from the race, but too late to have his name removed from the ballot. Van Valkenburgh, who received only 1% of the vote, said he withdrew in order not to draw support away from Clingan.

Russell said Tuesday that he was concerned that the light voter turnout hurt his chances to return to office.

The special City Council meeting Friday afternoon, called by Mayor Smith, is expected to result in the naming of a new city attorney and the demotion of Vice Mayor Bud Harbin, the only member of the council who did not face reelection in November. Harbin is also expected to lose his spot representing Imperial Beach as a director on the Metropolitan Transit Development Board.

The outspoken Harbin has assailed his three council peers, charging that they are acting on “a hidden agenda” to benefit certain development interests and violated state law by ordering the city manager to fire a city official.

Russell admits that “Bud and I have had our differences,” but sides with Harbin in his right to remain as vice mayor because of his seniority on the council. Actions by the council majority against Harbin and others “is sheer unadulterated abuse of power,” Russell said. He also predicted a backlash against the three council members because of their apparent attempts to remove many of their detractors from power.