ELECTIONS MALIBU CITYHOOD : 30 Candidates Line Up for a Shot at 5 Council Seats

Besides deciding whether their seaside community becomes a city, Malibu voters on June 5 will be asked to pick five City Council members from a field of 30 contenders who last week announced they were entering the race.

“The joke around town is that candidate forums will last two days, with each candidate given five minutes to speak,” said one observer, in reference to the large number of contenders.

After struggling with county officials for more than two years for the right to vote on the matter, incorporation proponents have expressed confidence that Malibu voters will approve cityhood in June.

Voters have twice rejected incorporation, in 1964 and 1976.

Bowing to a court order, Los Angeles County supervisors set the election date 10 days ago. However, in a bid to gain time for a sewer system that the county wants to install there, the supervisors delayed the actual incorporation date to March 28, 1991, if voters approve cityhood.

A majority of the candidates on the June ballot favor cityhood as a means of restricting growth, but several are considered sympathetic to development.

As expected, the leaders of the 1,000-member Malibu Committee for Incorporation, Walter F. Keller and Carolyn J. Van Horn, are among the candidates. They resigned last week as co-chairs of the group. It is one of two groups that has taken a lead position in the incorporation effort.

Meanwhile, Larry Wan, president of the 2,000-member Malibu Township Council, the other major pro-cityhood group, also entered the race, as did Frank A. Basso, a former president. Wan is expected to resign his post to devote full attention to the campaign.

Candidates who are either opposed to cityhood or have expressed doubts about it include real estate developer Paula Login, land-use attorney Paul Shoop and real estate brokers Jack Corrodi and Richard D. Idler.

Here are brief descriptions of the candidates, in alphabetical order:

Frank A. Basso--A pharmacist, Basso is a cityhood advocate who has twice served as president of the Malibu Township Council.

Ronald S. Bloomfield--Once associated with Malibu Committee for Incorporation, he and a few others split from the group several years ago to form the Committee for 90265, which promoted itself as seeking a broader base of support for the cityhood effort.

Mike Caggiano--A public policy analyst and former consultant for the RAND Corp., Caggiano is a cityhood supporter who also serves on the Malibu Citizens Sewer Committee.

Jack Corrodi--He is a longtime foe of cityhood and filed suit against the county in an unsuccessful bid to prevent the election. He was a council candidate during the 1976 cityhood election, finishing eighth in a field of 19. He hopes to parlay his campaign visibility to spread the anti-cityhood message.

Mary B. Culbert--An actress who appears in TV commercials, she is also an attorney. Culbert is a pro-cityhood, slow-growth candidate who says she has a special interest in education and environmental issues.

Philip G. Gillin--A real estate attorney, Gillin says he is basically in favor of local rule, and says he has an open mind on development.

Paul Joseph Grisanti--A real estate broker who once opposed cityhood, he now says he prefers cityhood to county control. A past president of the local Kiwanis club, he has supported a proposal to build Malibu Country Club in Corral Canyon.

Thomas R. Hirsch--A dentist, Hirsch is a slow-growth advocate who favors cityhood.

Joan (Joann) House--A cityhood supporter who has been active with Malibu Committee for Incorporation, she is married to Ken House, who became co-chair of the group last week after the resignations of Walter F. Keller and Carolyn J. Van Horn, who are now council candidates.

Anna Hutchinson--A homemaker and member of Malibu Committee for Incorporation and Malibu Township Council, she has served in an advisory role to the Malibu Citizens Sewer Committee.

Richard D. Idler--A former developer and now a real estate broker, Idler has expressed misgivings about cityhood, saying that the pros and cons have yet to be adequately debated.

Walter F. Keller--A veteran of the two unsuccessful cityhood efforts, he co-chaired Malibu Committee for Incorporation until last week, when he resigned to devote full attention to the council race.

Paula Login--A real estate developer who favors the county’s proposed sewer system, she has expressed doubts that Malibu is financially capable of sustaining itself should cityhood be approved.

Hassen Masri--A real estate broker and 10-year Malibu resident, Masri describes himself as favoring a “reasonable approach” to growth.

George Mathy--Vice president of a private investigation firm, he is a member of Malibu Township Council and Malibu Committee for Incorporation, but has been more active with the latter. He says he prefers the label “planned growth” over slow growth in describing his development philosophy.

John J. Merrick--A retired Municipal Court judge. He opposed cityhood in the 1964 election, in which he won enough votes to have been elected to the City Council had voters not rejected incorporation.

Douglas R. O’Brien--A retired Los Angeles firefighter, now a cabinetmaker, O’Brien favors cityhood and considers himself among those favoring slow-growth.

Robert W. Rhee--A tax accountant and member of Malibu Senior Citizens, he favors cityhood and slow growth for Malibu, and says he has a special interest in environmental issues.

John St. Clair--An aerospace systems analyst. He could not be reached for comment.

Paul Shoop--A land-use attorney, who has expressed misgivings about cityhood in the past. Shoop is associated with a group of civic center property owners concerned about possible limits on the development of their property.

Thomas (Tom) Shotke--A bank executive who describes himself as an advocate of slow-growth and cityhood supporter. Shotke approves of the county’s delaying Malibu’s incorporation to March 28, 1991, should cityhood be approved, saying it would give the new city time to organize its management team.

Dennis W. Sinclair--A management consultant and former UCLA professor, Sinclair is not convinced that cityhood is the right choice, but wants to be on the council if it is approved.

Joseph P. Sole--A business consultant who considers self-determination for Malibu to be as important as arguments over development of the community. Sole, although sympathetic to orderly development, said his views are more in line with slow-growth advocates.

E. (Libby) Sparks--A real estate broker who is a member of Malibu Township Council and serves on the Malibu Committee for Incorporation steering committee. Sparks received 8,000 votes in unsuccessful race for Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. She says she has a special interest in education and beautification.

Seymour (Sy) Sudar--A pro-cityhood candidate, Sudar is a retired environmental engineer who has been actively involved with the Malibu Citizens Sewer Committee.

Carolyn J. Van Horn--A retired schoolteacher, she co-chaired Malibu Committee for Incorporation until last week, when she and Keller resigned to devote full attention to the council race.

Larry Wan--An electrical engineer who is vice president of an engineering firm, Wan has served as president of Malibu Township Council for the last two years.

Sally Womack--A marine biologist and member of Malibu Committee for Incorporation, whose husband, Bill Womack, serves on the group’s steering committee.

Gene Wood--An announcer for “Family Feud” and other TV game shows, Wood has been an outspoken critic of the county in opposing its sewer plan and promoting cityhood. He has been actively involved with Malibu Committee for Incorporation.

K. (Missy) Zeitsoff--A former schoolteacher, Zeitsoff is secretary of Malibu Township Council and a member of Malibu Committee for Incorporation. An opponent of the county’s sewer plan, she has co-chaired Malibu Township Council committees that monitor development and promote cityhood.