Voters in Cypress Reject Recalls by Nearly 2-1 Ratio

After a crushing defeat at the polls, recall activists said Wednesday that their message failed to reach voters citywide. But opponents of the recall said voters got the message and answered it.

The nearly complete returns show that Mayor Cecilia L. Age, Councilwoman Gail H. Kerry and Councilman Walter K. Bowman were supported by a vote of almost 2 to 1 citywide. Only 62 absentee ballots remain to be certified and counted today.

“We asked the silent majority for their support and said we needed it, and they came through,” Kerry said Wednesday.

The incumbents had hoped for a big voter turnout to overwhelm the 6,000-plus voters who had signed recall petitions. The get-out-the-vote effort succeeded: 10,121 of the city’s 23,238 registered voters, 43.5%, went to the polls.

Tony Smith, a leader in the recall movement, said that he didn’t think voters fully understood the issues in the recall, and that geographical division also played a role.

“I think people in the north [part of Cypress] were willing to sell out people in the south,” Smith said. “It’s a sad commentary when segments of a city are willing to sell out.”

Only five of the city’s 27 precincts supported the recall, and all five are in the extreme southern end of the city, where the whole controversy started over a warehouse now under construction.

The three council members voted last year to allow the warehouse, despite impassioned protests from residents around it, triggering the recall effort.

Age frequently has charged that the angry south Cypress residents were “not thinking of the best interests of the entire city.” She and other council members said the warehouse would bring $800,000 a year in needed taxes. The warehouse supporters also contended that the building would cause no serious environmental damage.

Smith and other warehouse opponents said another study was needed of the impact of the 24-hour operation in a 439,650-square-foot building. The city was relying on an outdated environmental impact report that did not consider “cumulative impact” of many new developments, Smith argued.

The opponents sued the city. Orange County Superior Court Judge Francisco F. Firmat said in court on May 17 he also believed a new EIR was needed, but he ruled that his court had no jurisdiction. Warehouse opponents appealed the decision. If they win in the appeals court (no date for that trial has been set) the case goes back to Firmat. Smith has said he feels sure that Firmat would then rule that construction must halt on the warehouse pending a new EIR.

“We’re still proceeding with the court case,” Smith said. “We’re also going to remain as a watchdog over the City Council, and we’ll oppose inappropriate business applications.”

Smith and other recall activists have also said repeatedly that their major dispute with Age, Kerry and Bowman was “lack of accountability.”

Smith, Don Wesling and others charged that the city administration allowed “dirty tricks” during the recall campaign, including illegal removal of signs. “They pulled every dirty trick in the book,” Wesling said. The recall forces also said the incumbents greatly outspent them.

Kerry responded on Wednesday, “I would hope they would lose more graciously than that.”

In 1993, Cypress voters overwhelmingly rejected a referendum for a proposed card club in the city. Kerry supported that card club, and many political observers said before the election that lingering anti-card club sentiment would result in her ouster. Tim Keenan, a candidate who hoped to win Kerry’s seat on Tuesday, had focused on the card-club issue.

But Kerry won by the same wide margin as her colleagues. Councilman Tom Carroll, an anti-card-club activist elected in 1994, said Wednesday that the club dispute obviously was not on the voters’ minds this year.

Carroll and Councilwoman Mary Ann Jones were the only two incumbents not targeted in the recall, because they had been elected after the warehouse vote.

Both had said they were neutral on the recall. But Carroll on Wednesday confirmed that Bowman, Age and Kerry recently had been chilly to him and Jones.

“I hope that’s behind us now,” he said.

In addition to the recall, Cypress voters on Tuesday also had nine advisory issues on their ballots.

The results showed voters supporting only four of the nine proposed projects: Measure B, for soccer field renovation; Measure E, for flood control facilities; Measure F, for a day-care facility for disabled adults, and Measure I, for funding sports fields and recreational facilities.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Cypress Final Election Returns

CITY COUNCIL

Recall: Councilwoman Cecilia L. Age

100% Precincts Reporting

*--*

Votes % Yes 3,743 37.5 No 6,237 62.5

*--*

Recall: Councilman Walter K. Bowman

*--*

Votes % Yes 3,603 37.3 No 6,064 62.7

*--*

Recall: Councilwoman Gail H. Kerry

*--*

Votes % Yes 3,640 37.9 No 5,964 62.1

*--*

ADVISORY MEASURES

A-Arnold/Cypress Park Renovation

100% Precincts Reporting

*--*

Votes % Yes 3,785 39.8 No 5,714 60.2

*--*

B-Soccer Field Renovation

*--*

Votes % Yes 4,918 51.6 No 4,606 48.4

*--*

C-Community Park Development

*--*

Votes % Yes 3,060 32.1 No 6,461 67.9

*--*

D-Multi-Use Cultural Arts Facility

*--*

Votes % Yes 3,699 38.8 No 5,830 61.2

*--*

E-Flood Control Facilities

*--*

Votes % Yes 6,304 67.2 No 3,081 32.8

*--*

F-Adult Day Care Facility

*--*

Votes % Yes 4,957 53.4 No 4,328 46.6

*--*

G-Veterans Park Facility

*--*

Votes % Yes 2,690 29.4 No 6,466 70.6

*--*

H-Youth Sports Field Lighting

*--*

Votes % Yes 4,591 49.9 No 4,610 50.1

*--*

I-Funding for Sports Fields/ Recreational Facilities

*--*

Votes % Yes 4,707 50.8 No 4,556 49.2

*--*