Dana Point Mayor in Tight Race as Peer Survives Recall

A recall campaign that has virtually torn Dana Point apart has apparently failed to remove City Councilman Harold R. Kaufman from office, but the fate of Mayor Karen Lloreda was too close to call late Tuesday.

“We think the spread is going to get even better,” said a confident Kaufman. “I think people realized that the recall is . . . absolutely the wrong way to do government.”

Meanwhile, in Seal Beach, Patricia E. Campbell, a city planning commissioner, and incumbent George E. Brown were leading the race for two open City Council seats.

And in Tustin, Mayor Jim Potts and incumbent council members Jeffery M. Thomas and Thomas R. Saltarelli were the early leaders among five candidates seeking to fill three open council seats.

Elsewhere, in four other communities, voters appeared to be rejecting measures that would change their city treasurers from elected to appointed offices.

The recall, council and treasurer races were the highlights of an election that also included an eclectic mix of 13 municipal ballot measures in five other communities.

Undoubtedly, the most heated of all the local races was waged in Dana Point, a city polarized by a power struggle over control of the five-member council. The drumbeat of recall in that coastal town has been sounding for more than a year.

Recall supporters, contending that the current council majority supports development at the expense of Dana Point’s small-town charm, targeted Lloreda and Kaufman, who are in the middle of their four-year terms. The third member of the current majority, Councilwoman Judy Curreri, has already announced she will not run for reelection in November.

Running to replace Lloreda were Michael Eggers, a former city mayor, and educator Bill Lane. Replacement candidates for Kaufman were retired businesswoman Ruby L. Netzley and mortgage broker Douglas Bitter.

Lloreda and Kaufman have rejected claims they are pro-development, insisting they represent the majority of the city’s residents.

“I’m confident, but I’m worried about the voter turnout,” Kaufman said before the polls closed. “I think with a good turnout we’ll be OK.”

In Tustin, the conversion of the 1,620-acre Tustin Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station was the key issue on a ballot of five candidates vying for three open council seats.

Voters were asked to choose among council members Saltarelli and Thomas, who are chair and co-chair, respectively, of the base closure task force, incumbent Potts and challengers Berklee Maughan and Jane Anderson.

“The closure of the Tustin Marine Corps air station . . . is the largest land-use issue that’s ever come before the city,” said Saltarelli, the brother of County Supervisor Don Saltarelli.

Two different philosophies of government were at stake in the Seal Beach City Council race, where representatives from two of the city’s five voting districts were up for election.

The more heated race occurred in District 4, where Phillip K. Fife, a former planning commissioner, supported a 223-home mixed use development proposed by the Bixby Ranch Co. for the College Park East neighborhood. Campbell, chairwoman of the city’s Planning Commission, opposes the project.

The seat was held by Frank Laszlo, an avid slow-growth advocate who is stepping down because of term limits.

Relatively quiet was the race in District 2, an area that includes College Park West and a portion of Leisure World. Voters were asked to choose between incumbent Councilman Brown’s business and government experience and the law enforcement background of challenger Jeff Christ, a narcotics detective for the Los Angeles Police Department.

Fallout from the massive county bankruptcy created city measures in four other Orange County communities--Brea, Huntington Beach, Orange and San Clemente--that asked voters to relinquish their right to elect city treasurers, and in some cases other elected city offices. If approved, the measures would have converted the offices to positions appointed by city councils.

The ballots in Brea and Orange also included similar measures affecting city clerks, while Huntington Beach added a measure converting the city attorney to an appointed office.

Huntington Beach voters were also asked to vote, for advisory purposes only, on a proposed city tax of between $12 and $36 annually to pay for beach and park improvements.

In Garden Grove, voters were asked to vote on five local ballot measures, including a new term-limit law, called Measure Z, and a changed system for paying water bills.

Measure Z was meant to limit council members to two consecutive four-year terms and the mayor to two consecutive two-year terms, while the new water billing measure, proposed by Councilman Bob Dinsen, was designed to base bills strictly on the volume of water used.

City officials, led by Mayor Bruce A. Broadwater, backed an opposing initiative to maintain the current water billing system, which includes a flat minimum rate.

Other Garden Grove issues included a bed tax increase for motel and hotel guests raising, the rate from 8% to 10%, and a change in the city’s business license tax system from a flat fee to an assessment of gross receipts.