LOCAL ELECTIONS MISSION VIEJO CITY COUNCIL : After Civil War Years, Candidates Seek Coexistence : Nearly all vow harmony after a failed recall, criticism of the Mission Viejo Co. and other issues mar the city’s first 30 months.

Mayor Christian W. Keena looked ready to explode in anger as his colleagues, council members Robert A. Curtis and Victoria C. Jaffe, heaved verbal daggers at each other at a recent meeting.

Councilman William S. Craycraft gripped his coffee cup tightly and listened. Nearby, Councilman Norman P. Murray just sat and frowned.

For 30 tumultuous months since its incorporation in 1988, South County’s largest city has witnessed the rancor and animosity that have turned council meetings into bitter arguments.

Campaigning as peacemakers, nearly all of the 14 candidates running for three council seats in the Nov. 6 election have vowed to bring harmony to council politics.

Indeed, during interviews and at public forums, cleaning up the council’s image has dwarfed other issues, such as traffic congestion, a failed recall campaign last spring against Curtis and an increasing public disaffection with the city’s sole developer, the Mission Viejo Co.

“I’m tired of seeing our council classified as the ‘soap opera council’ of Orange County,” said candidate Edward Kearns, a retired Postal Service employee. “It’s time to stop putting personalities before the politics of running the city.”

At candidate forums and in mailers being circulated around the city, Kearns and several other candidates are taking aim at the council’s performance. However, while some allege shortcomings in controlling growth and poor handling of city finances, the candidates always seem to swing back to the council’s behavior in chambers.

“We can no longer tolerate the anger (among council members) and the political maneuvering,” candidate Marilyn MacDougall, a trainer for sheriff’s deputies, said in a recent interview. “It’s OK to disagree, just don’t make it personal.”

“Our City Council has failed,” said another candidate, Robert Breton, an assistant state attorney general. “They have shown an appalling lack of leadership.”

Murray, the lone incumbent seeking reelection (both Jaffe and Keena decided not to run again) is trying to stay above the criticism, choosing to emphasize the council’s efforts to set up a new city government.

“The issues and accomplishments we’ve achieved . . . (have) directly affected the quality of life in Mission Viejo for the better,” he said.

Craycraft, whose term has not yet expired, warned that taking potshots at the current council might backfire with voters.

“I think the community is fed up with all the uproar and the bashing of the council,” he said. “I think those who bash the council in their campaigns are going to make voters wonder if they would continue that kind of bashing on the council.”

The field of candidates is as diverse as it is large. Several have served on city commissions, and others are leaders in such organizations as homeowners’ associations or the local board of realtors. Others have led such groups as the recently disbanded citizens’ committee against the Curtis recall attempt.

“There are at least eight front-runners,” Craycraft said. “It’s going to be very close.”

Despite their divergent backgrounds, many of the candidates appear to agree on the major issues facing Mission Viejo.

Nearly all concur that traffic circulation improvements are badly needed and that the Mission Viejo Co. should be watched closely on development issues, with the planned community nearly built out.

Candidate Ray Carolin, a marketing strategist, referred to completion of the city’s general plan: “We are at a crossroads in Mission Viejo. The Mission Viejo Co. is leaving the city in five years, and we will be left to pick up the pieces.”

Others decried what they called the council’s rubber-stamping of service and development agreements left by the county before incorporation.

“If we are going to let the county of Orange decide our future, why did we incorporate?” asked candidate Susan Withrow, a Dana Point municipal employee.

But regardless of who wins in November, Craycraft said he is confident that the new council will get along better.