2 Women Join San Juan Council in Historic First : Government: Campbell and Nash break a barrier of male dominance that had existed since the city’s incorporation in 1961.

For the first time in the history of this cowboy town, two women were sworn in as City Council members.

San Juan, which was incorporated in 1961 but was founded in the late 1700s, was the last city in Orange County to open its council doors to women.

Collene Campbell and Carolyn Nash broke the male dominance when they were sworn in Tuesday.

“They are both strong-willed and outspoken and have a great deal of pride and that’s good,” said Mayor Gil Jones.

Campbell, 59, a nationally known victim’s rights advocate, said she’s no “women’s libber” but that doesn’t mean she won’t bring a new perspective to City Hall that neither Jones nor fellow council members Gary L. Hausdorfer and Jeff Vasquez could.

“I think that as a mother and a grandmother and a wife, I might have a sensitivity and insight that could be helpful,” Campbell said. “I do bring some different thinking to the table as a woman . . . maybe some thoughts for consideration that may not have been brought forth before.”

Nash, like Campbell, is a former city planning commissioner. The two served on the commission together for five years beginning in 1983.

“The two of us working together is nothing new,” said Nash, 53, the wife of former council member and Mayor Doug Nash. “People have been saying we’re on two opposing sides of local politics, but I don’t think we are on different sides as far as the direction the city should be going. At the Planning Commission, we usually voted the same way on most issues.”

Nash and Campbell fit in a town known for rough-and-tumble politics, where people are not shy about venting their feelings at town hall meetings.

Campbell is chairman of the board of Mickey Thompson Stadium Off-Road Racing, a company named after her brother that stages races across the country. She is also on the board of directors of an Ohio-based tire company.

Nash, along with husband Doug, owns Nash Marine.

Where the two women differ is in their thoughts about what role their gender played in their election. While Campbell said she “hopes to heck I didn’t get a single vote because of my gender,” Nash believes she won many votes just because she is a woman.

“I really benefited because there was a lot of support for women this year,” Nash said. “There was an awareness of the fact that so many women are usually excluded from the election process and positions in higher office. Plus, we are probably the majority of the population and we should be making decisions that affect us.”

In Campbell, they have a woman who has been a victim of violent crime. Her brother with whom she had worked “on a daily basis for 16 years,” Mickey Thompson, was shot to death along with his wife on March 16, 1988, in a still-unsolved slaying, and her son, Scott Campbell, was slain by drug dealers April 17, 1982.

Those events have forever shaped her perception of the world, she said. “I’m someone who understands pain caused by crime,” she said.