HUNTINGTON BEACH : Groups Hail New Majority on Council

Slow-growth groups were celebrating this week following the upset election victories by two environmental candidates to the City Council, which appeared to shift the council majority in their favor.

“It was a sort of stunning victory for us,” said Terry Dolton, president of the environmental group Amigos de Bolsa Chica.

Two of three candidates endorsed by the Amigos and other slow-growth environmental groups won election. They are Victor Leipzig, a planning commissioner and biology instructor at Golden West College, and Dave Sullivan, an orthodontist and president of the citizens group Huntington Beach Tomorrow. When Sullivan and Leipzig take office on the seven-member council in December, they will join incumbent environmentalists Grace Winchell and Linda Moulton-Patterson, forming a new majority.

Dolton, noting that the council majority had always favored pro-development interests, said: “We think that after this election, the council will be more representative of the citizens of Huntington Beach and will have a broader outlook on environmental awareness.”

Incumbent Councilman Jim Silva, who is completing a one-year term as mayor, was reelected in Tuesday’s election, but another incumbent, Don MacAllister, was defeated. Incumbent Councilman Peter M. Green is completing his eighth year in office and by city law could not run again.

In the race for three seats on the council, Silva had the most votes, followed by Leipzig and Sullivan. Sullivan trailed in the early returns and did not learn he had won until the last precincts were counted Wednesday morning. Sullivan nudged out Planning Commissioner Susie Newman, who finished fourth, by about 1,000 votes.

Some absentee ballots are yet to be counted, but City Hall officials said they doubt that these will change the results. The absentee votes will be tallied Monday, according to the county registrar of voters office.

Dolton and Adrianne Morrison, executive director of Amigos de Bolsa Chica, said grass-roots efforts, such as going door to door and talking with voters, were a key factor in the environmentalists’ victory. “A lot of people wanted to get involved, and it really helped,” Morrison said.

The third candidate endorsed by the Amigos de Bolsa Chica, former planning commissioner Mark Porter, finished fifth among 14 candidates.