HUNTINGTON BEACH : 2 Councilmen Wage Fight for Mayor’s Job

A fierce behind-the-scenes political struggle is under way for selection as the city’s next mayor.

Each year council members choose one of their colleagues to serve in the post. Sometimes the seven council members attempt to rotate the job. But outside political pressure from pro-growth and slow-growth forces frequently play a role in the outcome.

Mayor Thomas J. Mays completes his one-year term Dec. 3, and the council will elect his successor that night.

There are two candidates for mayor this year: Councilmen Jim Silva and Peter M. Green. Each acknowledges lacking the four votes needed to win. “It’s wide open,” Silva said Tuesday.

Green, 63, is a biological sciences professor at Golden West College and has been on the council since 1984. He is mayor pro tem, filling in for the mayor as needed.

The mayor pro tem often becomes the mayor the next year, but no rule requires it. The City Council on Jan. 22 adopted a motion, 4 to 3, to have the mayor pro tem automatically become the next mayor each year. But on Feb. 5, the council rescinded the action, also by a 4-3 vote. Silva’s was the swing vote; he first voted for the automatic succession, then against it.

Silva, 46, is an economics teacher at Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley and also a real estate broker. He has been on the council since 1988.

Green, Councilwoman Grace Winchell and Councilwoman-elect Linda Moulton-Patterson are supported by environmental groups, and the three have taken stands against some controversial development projects, Pierside Village among them.

Green, however, noted Monday that his vote is never totally predictable. Just last month, for instance, he voted for the mammoth Holly-Seacliff development agreement even though Winchell opposed it.

Silva usually supports development proposals before the council, and he has said he is a strong advocate of continuing downtown redevelopment on Main Street.

“A primary goal for me is getting downtown Phase II on line,” Silva said. Silva’s vote is another that cannot be totally predicted. For instance, he and Mays joined Winchell and Green earlier this month in killing a high-density condominium project vehemently opposed by residents of the Talbert Avenue-Beach Boulevard area.

Some of the council members could not be reached for comment on their choices for mayor. Councilman-elect Earle Robitaille said Tuesday that he has “made up my mind who I’m voting for mayor, but I won’t disclose it until that night.”