OCEANSIDE CITY COUNCIL : Outsiders Depose Bishop, Win Council Seats

In the topsy-turvy world of Oceanside politics, three City Hall outsiders were elected to the City Council, in the process unseating matriarch Councilwoman Melba Bishop in her own presumed shoo-in for reelection, returns showed Wednesday.

Bishop, who was elected to her first council term in 1980, lost reelection in 1984, was reelected in 1988 and survived a recall just last year, said she was stunned by the latest turn in Oceanside’s volatile political scene and her own third-place showing for two council seats.

She blamed high voter turnout--68%--and the ballots cast by uninformed voters who, she said, had no real sense of the city’s political needs.

Besides Bishop’s loss, her council colleague and protege, Don Rodee, was unsuccessful in his bid for mayor but will still finish the second half of his first four-year term on the council.

The new mayor will be Dick Lyon, a retired Navy admiral, 1940 Olympics swimming gold medalist and president of the Oceanside school board. He will replace Larry Bagley, who is retiring from public office.

Joining Lyon on the council are newcomers Colleen Richardson O’Harra, an estate attorney, and businessman Terry Johnson, who will become Oceanside’s first black council member. (Councilman Sam Williamson did not seek reelection in Oceanside.)

Bishop was one of three incumbent council members in cities along the California 78 corridor through North County who were defeated.

In neighboring Vista, incumbent Bernie Rappaport placed fifth among seven council candidates. Perennial slow-growth candidate Ted Cole and home builder Scott Packard, the son of U.S. Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad), placed first and second, respectively. (Incumbent Nancy Wade did not run.)

In San Marcos, incumbent Mike Preston lost his bid for a second elected term of office to Betty Evans, the wife of “Luann” cartoonist Greg Evans. Twelve-year council veteran Corky Smith, a retired plumber, took top-vote honors.

In Oceanside, O’Harra speculated that voters had grown weary of voting blocs--and especially the one Bishop had forged with the election two years ago of Don Rodee and Nancy York, allowing her to wield majority control of the council that frustrated both Bagley and Williamson into retirement.

“Voters in Oceanside are tired of voting blocs,” O’Harra said. “They want council people who will be independent thinkers, who will focus on issues, not personalities.”

She said she, too, was surprised by Bishop’s defeat but speculated that voters accepted the message offered by the three victors: “We independently campaigned on the need to improve the image of Oceanside, to attract more businesses to Oceanside and to expand our tax base. And we all focused on the need for additional police, fire and paramedic services.”

Neither Lyon, who is accompanying the outgoing mayor on a civic trip to Japan, nor Johnson could be reached for comment.

Rodee said Wednesday he was still trying to reconcile why voters rejected him for mayor, and kicked Bishop out of office altogether. “There was a tidal wave of some sort, and we have to figure out where it came from,” he said.

The new panel of city fathers, governing a city wracked by budget crises, suffering low staff morale and a sullied public image, will have a cumulative four years of City Council experience, thanks to the two years’ service each of Rodee and York.

On that note, Rodee said, “My biggest fear is that they’ll be stubbing their toes a lot before they make any progress. I hope the city isn’t hurt.”

Bishop said Tuesday’s political drubbing was her worst yet. She won 10% fewer votes than second-place Johnson. She won 9,274 votes in Tuesday’s election, contrasted with the 12,313 votes she won last year in surviving a recall effort sparked by accusations that her troika had turned City Hall upside down with the removal of political adversaries from key civic posts.

The high voter turnout included, she said, “people who aren’t interested in civic affairs, who never voted or were particularly interested in city government--but who had the most negative feelings about me because of last year’s recall.”

Bishop, who emerged on the Oceanside political scene with a rush in 1980 as the new darling of grass-roots politics, said she will probably not seek election again.

“I wanted to serve four more years, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve been able to accomplish, and I wish them the best. I feel like I’ve been campaigning for two years straight, because of the recall, and I’ve been beat up for two years. It will take a long time to heal from that.”