HUNTINGTON BEACH : Bannister Unsure If He Will Run Again

Former Mayor Wes Bannister, who will leave the City Council on Monday after his unsuccessful bid to become state insurance commissioner, said he may again seek elective office but doubts he will return to city politics.

Bannister said Friday that in two years he may vie for an Orange County supervisorial seat or make another run for the insurance post.

“But my gut feeling is I will probably not get involved” in any other future campaigns, he said.

Bannister, who was elected to the council in 1986, chose not to run for a second four-year term after winning the Republican nomination in the race to become the state’s first elected insurance commissioner. He lost the election to Democrat John Garamendi.

If Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder does not seek reelection to her seat in 1992, Bannister said, he may run for that post.

Bannister said he may run again for insurance commissioner if Garamendi decides to pursue one of California’s two U.S. senatorial seats in 1992.

In the meantime, Bannister said, he is being interviewed for a potential position on the Metropolitan Water Board. He added that some GOP power brokers have mentioned him to head the California Department of Fish and Game, a gubernatorial appointment.

He said he would consider the state position if it is offered to him, “but I’m not sure it would interest me enough to leave my (insurance) business. I just don’t know enough about the job.”

At one point during his recent campaign, Bannister said he was considering running for reelection to the council this year, in addition to the statewide insurance commissioner’s post.

And although he considers a future council candidacy unlikely, “you never can tell,” said Bannister, who served a one-year term as mayor beginning in December, 1988. Along with Bannister, Mayor Thomas J. Mays, a newly elected state assemblyman, and Councilman John Erskine are also stepping down from the council Monday.

They are being replaced by former Mayor Jack Kelly, school board President Linda Moulton-Patterson and retired police chief Earle Robitaille.

Whether he would run again for a council seat “depends on how this council does,” he said.