Miller and Nolan Win in Corona

In Riverside County’s most expensive and contentious races, voters unseated an incumbent Corona councilman and were so narrowly divided on a measure to rein in Moreno Valley’s new municipal utility that the outcome was too close to call Wednesday.

In a heated battle to fill two Corona City Council seats that grew uglier as the election neared, incumbent Mayor Jeff Miller and newcomer Steve Nolan were elected.

Incumbent Jeff Bennett lost his seat.

Bennett blamed his loss on an onslaught of last-minute mailers and advertisements criticizing him, including one that emphasized his bankruptcy troubles, and $200,000 spent by police and fire unions and developers against him.

“I got bombed from five different directions,” he said. “The hit pieces took a huge toll. I really fought back fairly and honestly.... It’s sad politics have to come to this in this city.”

Bennett, a multimillionaire who created Nature’s Recipe Pet Food and who served three terms on the council, said he is done with politics and plans to concentrate on his charitable work, including running a wildlife conservancy in Kenya. He said reducing residential development density, creating several parks, the opening of new restaurant and shopping complexes and increasing sales tax revenue for the city were among his proudest accomplishments on the council.

In the six-way race to fill two seats, Miller received nearly 26% of the 52,928 votes cast, Nolan received nearly 25%, and Bennett came in third with 18%.

Nolan, a retired police officer and owner of the Backwoods BBQ, said he believes that he won because residents were sick of clashing council members and that Bennett was often a catalyst of the infighting and “held the whole city hostage.”

“I spent a lot of time walking and talking and getting our message out, and whoever I talked to, people are tired of the negativity and want to see us move forward,” he said.

“We now have a great council. Everyone just feels great and energized....This is a new beginning.”

Nolan said his priorities include creating more parks, revitalizing the city’s downtown and ensuring that development is sensible.

Miller, who was the subject of conflict-of-interest allegations earlier this year over a consulting firm he created with another council member, said voters supported him because he focused on the issues -- traffic, transportation, public safety and taxes.

“I’m happy,” he said. “I ran a clean campaign, and voters responded to that.”

In Moreno Valley, a measure to restrict spending by the city’s utility was losing by less than 1.6% of the 33,342 votes cast. An unknown number of absentee and provisional ballots have yet to be counted, so the final results will not be known for several days, said Riverside County Registrar of Voters Barbara Dunmore.

Measure N, which was backed by more than $2 million in contributions from Southern California Edison, would forbid money from the city’s general fund to go to the agency; require the utility to maintain a reserve account equal to 20% of the agency’s operating expenses; forbid the utility to spend its profits for five years, and then only with voter approval; and require the utility to charge similar customers the same rates.

Councilwoman Bonnie Flickinger, chairwoman of the effort to defeat the measure, was ecstatic that the measure appeared headed for defeat despite being outspent roughly 10 to 1 by Edison. City officials worried that the measure’s passage would undercut the reasons they started their own utility -- to create general-fund revenue and to be able to offer business incentives.

“We have sent a message to anyone who is listening -- wealthy, powerful special interests cannot buy elections in this city,” she said.

However, Edison spokesman Charley Wilson noted that the measure was losing by 526 votes and that many absentee and provisional ballots had not yet been counted.

Regardless of the outcome, Edison was pleased that it helped its customers launch a discussion of the risks of starting a municipal utility, he said.

“We have achieved in large part what we set out to do -- help the community help the city of Moreno Valley understand the complexities of this business.”