Newport Beach : 3 Announce Plans to Run for Council

Three candidates, including Planning Commissioner Jan Debay, were the first to announce this week that they will vie for Ruthelyn Plummer’s west Newport Beach City Council seat this November.

Plummer did not draw the papers Monday to file as a candidate in the November election, furthering speculation that she will not run again. Councilwoman Jean H. Watt, who some thought also would not seek reelection, took out an application, as did longtime Councilman John C. Cox Jr., who is likely to run unopposed.

Candidates have until mid-August to file for the three four-year council seats.

Two other west Newport Beach residents, Richard Banks and Dean Reinemann, also are in the running with Debay for Plummer’s seat.

Reinemann, a consultant who has written and distributed children’s books, is particularly interested in growing concern over the proposed 19th Street Bridge that would link Newport Beach and Costa Mesa to Huntington Beach.

Banks, an account executive for a graphics firm, is critical of Plummer’s 12-year stay on the council and supports Councilman John Hedges’ push for term limits.

Also on the November ballot are four ballot measures, including a term-limit initiative that would restrict council members to two consecutive terms. The other measures include one to increase the number of members on the city Arts Commission, another to give the city authority to sell property on River Avenue that has been dubbed a “people’s park” by nearby homeowners, and a third to allow the city to lease city-owned land.