2 Challengers to Run for Fullerton City Council

With a Friday filing deadline approaching, two challengers have submitted petitions to run for three Fullerton City Council seats in November.

Mike Clesceri, an investigator for the Orange County district attorney’s office, filed his intent to seek a four-year council term Aug. 1. Brent Hardwick, a Fullerton transportation commissioner, filed his petition for candidacy Monday.

They are vying for three council seats held by Mayor F. Richard Jones, Councilman Chris Norby and Councilwoman Julie Sa. All three incumbents have said they intend to seek reelection, but none had filed the necessary documents at City Hall as of Tuesday. Jones is completing his first term, Norby would be seeking a fifth and Sa her third.

It is because Clesceri is employed by the district attorney’s office that a complaint challenging Sa’s residency was forwarded last week to the state Attorney General’s Office. The complaint alleges that Sa does not officially live in a one-bedroom kitchenette apartment in Fullerton but rather at a 8,200-square-foot hacienda with a helipad in Chino Hills that she and her husband are trying to sell.

Sa said last week that she spends three or four days a week at the Fullerton apartment and divides the rest of her time between her parents home in Anaheim Hills and the Chino Hills estate.

The complaint was first filed with the Fullerton city attorney, who declared a conflict of interest because the complaint was made by a member of the Police Department. The attorney forwarded the matter to the district attorney’s office.

Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Chuck Middleton said he referred the complaint to the state because of the potential conflict of interest with Clesceri running for office while working for the county agency.

But Clesceri said he has no connection with the Sa complaint and was unaware of it when he filed his petition for candidacy .

“This has no bearing on anything since I’ve been running for office since October,” he said. “Regardless of whether there is any impropriety on the City Council, I’m running for office, and I’m here to stay.”

Other potential candidates who had not filed their candidacy papers as of Tuesday were Ralph Baker, Roger L. Bartner, William Brashears, Marcus Greene, Deborah M. Kelly, John Stanton and David Zenger.

The deadline to file for the Nov. 7 election is 5 p.m. Friday. However, if any of the incumbents do not file by that time, the deadline would be extended to Aug. 16.