Laguna Hills Candidates United on Two Issues

The 14 candidates who want to be elected to the city council of Laguna Hills, if such a city is formed, agree on one thing: Stop plans to build a large business park that would dump 42,000 vehicles a day on already-congested roads and prevent commercial use of the airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

In a poll taken at a candidates forum at Leisure World last week, all 13 candidates present said they would oppose a plan to change the zoning from recreation and open space to commercial on 192 acres next to the retirement community.

One candidate, Bernard Kuai, said his opposition was “qualified,” meaning that he believes that the city will have to settle for a compromise with the landowner.

And Karl Gustav Schneider II, who was absent from the forum because of upcoming hand surgery, said later that he also believes that, in reality, some kind of development will occur. But he said he believes that as a city, Laguna Hills would be in a better position to negotiate a less-intense development plan.

All 14 candidates also oppose the addition of commercial jet flights at the El Toro Marine base, although they differ as to whether they believe that the opposition of the new city would significantly influence the decisions of county and federal officials.

The most fundamental difference among the candidates is their support or opposition to the campaign to make Laguna Hills a city.

Four candidates--Dr. William A. Honigman, Kuai, Leon A. Bosch and Bea Hassel Rogatz--want to quash the cityhood drive, although they say they would be willing to serve on a council if a city is formed. Bosch and Rogatz, both from Leisure World, contend that the retirement community does not stand to reap any benefits from incorporation.

While they have taken similar stances on the issues that mean most to the local voters, the candidates differ broadly in political and professional experience.

They include:

- Philip S. Borden, a Laguna Hills resident, is an investor and dean of business administration at California Coast University. A former business executive and professor, he has masters and doctorate degrees from the Harvard Business School.

- Bosch, a Leisure World resident, is a retired professor and management consultant. He has served for 12 years on various Leisure World homeowner association boards and is past president of the Golden Rain Foundation, which operates the retirement community’s facilities.

- Melody Carruth, a Nellie Gail housewife, is a former teacher and founder and former co-chairwoman of Citizens to Save Laguna Hills, a group that has advocated the formation of a Laguna Hills city. She is also a member of Airport Site Consensus, a regional group of volunteers that is trying to prevent commercial use of the Marine airport in El Toro.

- James Dukette has worked in Orange County government since 1970. Since 1981, he has been an administrator at the Orange County Agency on Aging. He is past president of a homeowners association in Laguna Niguel and an Air Force veteran.

- Norman F. Garton, a retired Navy rear admiral, serves on committees of three homeowners associations in Leisure World, including the Golden Rain Foundation.

- Janice Graham, a former teacher and operator of a bed-and-breakfast inn, is an educational consultant. She is a board member of the Saddleback Area Coordinating Council and past president of a county League of Women Voters.

- Patricia Ann Gummeson is a vice president of Mercury Property Management Inc., a property management company, a director of the Laguna Village Homeowners Assn. and area adviser to Citizens to Save Laguna Hills.

- Honigman is an emergency-room physician at Kaiser Permanente hospital in Anaheim.

- Kuai is a businessman and private investor.

- Rogatz, a resident of Leisure World, is a retired stage and television producer and director and is now a theatrical consultant.

- Schneider has been in the insurance business for 17 years. He is a public insurance adjuster for Dietz International in Los Angeles. He was formerly secretary treasurer of a large insurance adjusting firm in New York and helped to found a private commuter bus service on Staten Island.

- Herbert Schwartz, a Leisure World resident, is a certified public accountant and former partner in an international accounting firm. He was treasurer of the Golden Rain Foundation of Leisure World.

- Craig Scott, an attorney, has been an active member of Citizens to Save Laguna Hills. He ran as a city council candidate in opposition to a previous proposal to form a regional city of Saddleback Valley.

- Allan Songstad, an attorney specializing in civil business litigation, was also a co-chairman of Citizens to Save Laguna Hills, and is president of the Nellie Gail Ranch Homeowners Assn.