LAGUNA BEACH : One-Man PAC Aims to Defeat Candidate

In a unique twist for a Laguna Beach election, a political action committee has been formed with the sole purpose of defeating one of the front-runners in the Nov. 3 City Council race.

Targeted is Planning Commissioner Norm Grossman, who has been endorsed by Village Laguna, a city employees’ group and two homeowners’ associations.

The PAC was formed by Darren Esslinger, whose family owns Laguna Terrace Park, a mobile home park. Esslinger said he formed the PAC because he believes that Grossman’s policies “are a clear detriment to our city.”

In part, Esslinger blames Grossman for a proposed mobile home park rent control ordinance defeated by voters in a special election last year. That ordinance was supported by three of five planning commissioners, including Grossman.

“I’ve thought about it quite a bit, and it was not an easy decision to come up with,” Esslinger said. “My conscience and civic duty moves me to try and stop this guy from getting elected.”

At no other time in the city’s history has a political action committee been formed to target a single candidate, City Clerk Verna Rollinger said.

Grossman said he was shocked when he learned last week about the PAC.

“It saddens me. I don’t like negative campaigning,” he said. “I don’t know how (Esslinger is) going to pursue this, and that’s an unpleasant place to be in.”

The committee is listed with the Secretary of State Political Reform Division under the name, Citizens for Responsible Government, a Coalition of Concerned Citizens, Property Owners, Mobilehome Parks, Taxpayers and Homeowners.

Esslinger said Monday that he is the only member of the committee but that he has received numerous phone calls from people expressing support.

According to a campaign contribution statement filed with the city clerk, the PAC has received $1,150 from Laguna Terrace Park for headquarters rent and $1,170 from Buena Park Manor, a Costa Mesa mobile home park, for phone service and furniture rental.

Buena Park Manor is owned by Richard Hall Co. Hall, a Costa Mesa businessman, is co-owner of Treasure Island Mobilehome Park in Laguna Beach. He said Monday that the check for the political action committee was written by the vice president of his company before either of them understood precisely why the committee was formed.

“Darren Esslinger didn’t tell me what the purpose of that committee was,” Hall said. “We’re involved in Laguna politics, but we’re certainly not going to go out on a limb and support a group that’s against somebody.”

Last year, Treasure Island Associates spent $147,000 to defeat the mobile home park rent control measure, by far the largest single contribution in that campaign.

Esslinger said he is raising money and plans to send mailers “describing what Norm is about, who he is. It’s not going to be distasteful.”

Esslinger said he faults Grossman for “drafting” the rent control ordinance, for his support of a city transportation plan centered around the concept of “traffic calming” and for an unwillingness to make any “substantive change to the (city’s) Design Review Board.”

City officials say the rent control ordinance was drafted by the city staff. Both the Planning Commission and the City Council unanimously endorsed the transportation plan. Grossman has said in earlier interviews that he supports continued design review for single-family homes, something some other candidates have come out against.