2 Lobby for Appointment to Mayoral Post

Quietly maneuvering with less than a week left in the time-honored Ventura political waltz known as the mayor’s race, two incumbent City Council members are vying for the honor of holding the city’s premier office for the next two years.

Council members Jack Tingstrom and Rosa Lee Measures both want the job. When the reconstituted City Council meets for the first time on Monday, the seven-member panel’s first order of business will be to select a new mayor, but how the votes will be cast remains a mystery.

“I think there is a lot of jockeying for position, each person telling you why they feel they would be the best and why the other person wouldn’t be the best,” Councilman-elect Jim Friedman said in an interview Tuesday. “I am noticing that the heat or the momentum has really turned on now.”

No council member appears to have an edge in the mayoral race.

Longtime Councilman Jim Monahan, who has participated in nine such mayoral races in his 18 years on the council, says he will back Tingstrom, a business consultant. Friedman is leaning toward Measures, a former banker who now manages her family’s trust.

Councilmen Gary Tuttle and Steve Bennett say they have not made up their minds. And Councilman-elect Ray Di Guilio seems to have a temporary reprieve--he is out of town until Thursday and could not be reached for comment.

Tingstrom and Measures have both met with the other council members and plan to spend the next six days working on securing the remaining votes they need. Both vied unsuccessfully for the mayoral seat in 1993, which was won by Tom Buford, and are passionate in their desire to represent the city as mayor for the next two years.

“I’ve made it known ever since I went into office four years ago that I wanted to be mayor someday,” said Tingstrom, 60. “I think it would be a highlight of my career.”

“I would like to serve as our city’s mayor,” said Measures, 58, who would be the first woman mayor in more than a decade and only the second woman in Ventura history to hold the post. “I believe I can provide a positive leadership.”

If the council members don’t commit to either Measures or Tingstrom, a compromise candidate could be selected, they said.

For his part, Tuttle said he has always wanted to be mayor. But as one of two environmentalists on a staunchly pro-business council, he doubts he could muster the votes.

“The reason I wanted it is because this is the end of my years,” said Tuttle, now in his seventh year on the council. “I would like to be known the rest of my life as [a former] mayor of the city of Ventura.”

Although some say the mayor is a figurehead position, it is a job many Ventura politicians crave. And nearly every council member has said he or she would not turn the job down.

“Being mayor is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said outgoing Councilman Greg Carson, who served as mayor from 1991 to 1993. “When you get that close to it, you start wanting it.”

The mayor’s position is an important one, council members say. Along with representing the city at various public functions, the mayor makes key committee appointments and runs the weekly council meetings.

“The mayoral duties are far more than ceremonial,” Measures said.

And the vote for mayor is significant, because it sometimes creates political allegiances and enemies for years to come.

“I think you once again have a council of wills,” Carson said of this seven-member group. “I think it is going to be difficult to pull them all together and the mayor’s race is going to set the tone. I think that is dangerous because you are going to have some hard feelings.”

It wouldn’t be the first time.

When Carson was chosen mayor in 1991, the council majority broke a longstanding tradition of naming an incumbent to the top position.

The young nursery store owner’s appointment angered Monahan, who had lobbied hard for the seat. At the time, he accused Carson, Tingstrom and Buford of betraying him after he had supported them during their initial race for the council.

“He was a bright young man and did a good job, but he could have done a better job with more experience,” Monahan said Tuesday.

But unlike past mayoral races, council members say this year’s campaign has been fairly amiable.

“I actually think this is better than many of the past mayoral situations,” Bennett said. “I think overall, people are working harder to try to figure out who could run this council best.”