LOCAL ELECTIONS : HUNTINGTON BEACH CITY RACES : Environmental Issues Dominate Campaigns in Old Oil Boom Town

Environmental concern--never before a big political item in this one-time oil boom town--is the overriding issue in this year’s city election.

Ten candidates are competing for four City Council seats in the Nov. 6 election, which also features two city ballot measures and a race for the elected position of city attorney.

Pro-growth vs. slow-growth and protection of parks and beaches are among the environmental issues being debated by the City Council candidates.

Political observers say several factors led to this election being a focal point for environmental protectionists in Huntington Beach. The most notable was the Feb. 6 oil spill from the tanker American Trader, during which nearly 400,000 gallons of Alaskan crude soiled the beaches.

Another factor was the cliffhanger success of a new citizens’ group in getting a parks-protection initiative qualified for the city’s ballot.

The oil spill catapulted then-little-known Mayor Thomas J. Mays into the political limelight, ultimately leading to his successful bid in the June primary for the Republican nomination for the 58th Assembly District seat. The oil spill also brought the city national attention and focused attention on citizen-group efforts to save the city’s wetlands.

The parks initiative, nurtured by the new group Save Our Parks, took months of grass-roots work. Measure C qualified for the ballot in a squeaker, after initially being declared short of enough petition signatures. The measure would forbid sale or lease of any parks or beaches without a citywide vote.

The City Council majority, by a 4-2 vote, put a rival item on the ballot: Measure D, which would forbid sale of park and beach land without a citywide vote but would allow lease of those lands by a majority vote of the council.

In the council race, Councilwoman Grace Winchell, first elected four years ago, is the only incumbent seeking reelection. Mays and councilmen Wes Bannister, the Republican nominee for state insurance commissioner, and John Erskine are not seeking reelection.

Winchell is a strong supporter of Measure C; she and Councilman Peter M. Green voted against putting rival Measure D on the ballot.

Environmentalists and slow-growth advocates say they hope to reelect Winchell and at least two new council members.

Huntington Beach Tomorrow and Amigos de Bolsa Chica, two major environmental groups, have endorsed three candidates: Winchell, former Planning Commissioner Mark Porter and Huntington Beach Union High School District President Linda Moulton Patterson.

Winchell, Porter and Patterson oppose the proposed Pierside Village project and any other new commercial development on the city’s beaches. They also oppose Measure D, which--by allowing leasing with just a City Council vote--could bring misuse of city beach land, they say.

The other City Council candidates are former Mayor and Councilman Jack Kelly; former Police Chief Earle W. Robitaille; incumbent Planning Commissioner Edward G. Mountford; a Long Beach marine safety officer, Dirk Voss; George Arnold, a self-employed entrepreneur; Tony Passannante, a pharmacist and business owner, and Steven J. Roy, a carpenter.

Former City Administrator Paul Cook’s name will appear on the ballot, but he has withdrawn as a candidate.

Kelly, Robitaille and Mountford all emphasize support for continued downtown redevelopment.

Kelly said he is worried about the “emergence of no-growth factions, which could retard public-safety levels and undermine (city) revenue flow.”

Mountford said he will seek a way to terminate the lease that allows oil tankers to unload off the city’s shores.

Voss and Arnold oppose new commercial buildings on the beach and criticize development decisions made in recent years by the council majority.

Passannante supports downtown redevelopment and favors Measure D.

Roy could not be reached for comment.

In addition to the City Council race, incumbent City Atty. Gail C. Hutton, first elected in 1978, is seeking her fourth term. She is being opposed by Paul Eugene Mann, a former law instructor at the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department’s academy.

Hutton said the main issue is her record of service, which she says has provided the city with “responsible and cost-saving legal leadership.”

Mann contends that Hutton has a poor record of service, that she is not respected by other city departments because of delays in processing legal requests and that she has spent too much money hiring outside counsel to represent the city.

“I’m concerned about the money our city attorney gives away to outside counsel for jobs that should be done by the city attorney and her deputies,” Mann said. “I don’t think the taxpayers have any idea how much money is wasted.”

Hutton said that her department is among the most frugally operated in the county and that she spends relatively little money on outside attorneys.