Oceanside Status Quo Shaky : Municipal Election: Bishop apparently is in command, but other early returns appear to reject council majority.

Oceanside voters Tuesday appeared to be largely rejecting the policies of the current City Council majority, according to early election returns.

Although incumbent Councilwoman Melba Bishop, who leads the slow-growth majority, appeared to have secured another term on the council, the balloting showed her council ally, Don Rodee, behind Dick Lyon in the race for mayor.

Meanwhile, Colleen Richardson O’Harra, an Oceanside attorney and a foe of Bishop, was leading to claim the council seat being vacated by retiring Councilman Sam Williamson.

But Rodee was optimistic that the final tally would see him pull ahead of Lyon, a retired Navy reserve admiral and a member of the Oceanside Unified School District board.

“I think these numbers really will not be a trend at all,” said Rodee, a freshman councilman, who awaited returns to be counted from the newly developed eastern half of Oceanside, a bastion of support for his slow-growth views.

O’Harra and Lyon both have been considered to be philosophically in line with retiring Mayor Larry Bagley and Williamson.

The council and mayoral races come at a critical time in the city’s long and stormy political history.

Despite some gains in recent years, Oceanside still suffers from the image of being a grungy garrison town to the 37,000 Marines from neighboring Camp Pendleton.

The coastal community has been trying to redevelop its lackluster, prostitute-infested downtown and take advantage of its commercial and residential beachfront areas.

However, critics charge that progress in the city of 138,000 inhabitants has been stymied by political infighting among council members.

There have been perpetual and heated arguments over allegations that some council members micro-manage city departments, destroying employee morale and causing an exodus of top administrators.

A major goal of the new council will be to expand the city’s small retail tax base, speed up downtown redevelopment, combat the city’s gang problem and restore tranquillity to the city staff.

Twenty-four candidates, mostly political newcomers, have campaigned to replace Bagley, who is retiring after 12 years at the post, and to fill two City Council seats.

Early favorites among the field of seven candidates to succeed Bagley were freshman City Councilman Rodee, former Councilman Ben Ramsey and Lyon.

Rodee, a commercial airline pilot, and Nancy York joined Bishop on the council in 1990, forming a slow growth majority that has feuded with Bagley and retiring Councilman Williamson over the past two years.

Rodee, who spent much of Election Day getting voters to the polls, said his campaign would benefit from a high voter turnout that would draw on citizens who moved to Oceanside in the past five to 10 years.

“They are frustrated by conditions in Orange County or Los Angeles or even San Diego,” Rodee said.

“They enjoy the openness of Oceanside and would like to see the city provide all of those amenities that they were used to like good schools, parks, and response from paramedics and police.”

Ramsey, who served on the council between 1986 and 1990, had been aligned with Bagley and Williamson and represents for many the old-guard politics, although he vigorously denies the label, saying “I don’t even know who the old guard is.”

Ramsey, who has characterized himself as a “managed growth” candidate, said he would use his 17 years experience as a business consultant in Oceanside to attract badly needed new businesses to the city and retain ones already there.

Vying for the two council seats were 17 candidates, led by incumbent Councilwoman Bishop, who was expected to benefit from her well-honed grass-roots network and become the council’s senior member.

Ralph Caballero, who made his fourth attempt at a City Council seat, was hoping to become the first male Latino council member in the city’s history.

Caballero spent more than $2,000, about four times more than in any of his previous campaigns.