Open political season strikes

Dave Brooks

Pam Julien Houchen is out, Debbie Cook is in and Connie Boardman

isn’t saying anything yet -- at least officially.

Monday marked the beginning of the political season in Huntington

Beach and the start date for citizens to begin pulling papers for

City Council seats.

Houchen is termed out after serving eight years on the council,

and Boardman has indicated to several city staff members that she

doesn’t plan to run again. Boardman said she will make a formal

announcement at the July 19 City Council meeting.

As of Tuesday, all candidates who have taken out papers to run for

City Council had made previous attempts.

Real estate consultant Keith Bohr, who came within 210 votes of

winning a spot on the council in 2002, is throwing in his hat for

another attempt.

Bohr said he was “devastated for about 24 hours” over his 2002

loss and planned to do “more door-knocking, more grass roots and more

phoning.”

Bohr resigned from the Planning Commission in May 2003 after

revelations that he’d checked on the status of several permit

applications for former clients. He said he doesn’t expect that to

affect his election.

“I have nothing I feel embarrassed about,” he said. “Do I wish it

hadn’t come down that way? Yeah. Did I learn something from all this?

Sure. The irony is that one of the things I want to do if elected to

City Council is make the planning department more efficient for small

businesses so they would never need the help of a consultant.”

Also running for council this year is Peter Albini, the first to

file his candidacy statements this year. In the 2002 election, Albini

came in second to last place.

“I’ve been waiting for this day for a year,” he said of Monday’s

filing. “I got beat so bad last [time] that I knew I had to be in

first this year. I waited outside the clerk’s office for a half-hour

to do this.”

Jim Moreno is making another stab after bringing in a little more

than 5,000 votes and Libertarian candidate Norm “Firecracker”

Westwell is intending to run after capturing about 2.4 percent of the

2002 vote.

With two spots up for grabs and a third that’s contested, this

year’s election could usher in an entirely different council from the

one that graced the dais just two years ago.

Of course, the chances of Cook losing are slim. The last time an

incumbent lost a re-election attempt was Vic Leipzig in 1996 to

then-newcomer Houchen.

Cook also made a big showing when she was first elected in 2000.

Earning nearly 25,000 votes, Cook was second only to Houchen’s

successful re-election bid and earned more votes than any of the four

council members elected in 2002.

“I definitely plan to run this year,” Cook said. “I have filed my

papers to form my committee and begin raising money.”

Huntington Beach residents have until Aug. 6 to file with the city

clerk’s office. To qualify, residents must live in Huntington Beach

and be a registered voter.

The entire registration process takes about 30 minutes and

includes myriad paperwork from candidacy statements to forms to set

up committees. Candidates must also disclose assets and economic

interests and regularly report campaign contributions.

Candidates don’t have to pay any fees to the city to run, but if

they want their name to appear on the sample ballot, they will have

to pay an estimated $2,200 for printing costs.

If a candidate is one of the top three vote-getters -- in 2002

there were 18 candidates -- that person wins a spot on the council.

Council members are paid about $700 a month for their service, while

the mayor, rotated annually between council members, is paid $936.

The City Council is nonpartisan, and candidates are not allowed to

state their party affiliation on balloting material.

“People will call us and ask what party a candidate belongs to,

but we’re not allowed to say,” clerk Kelly Mandic said. “If you want

to know, I suggest you ask them yourself.”

Councilwoman Jill Hardy said political affiliation rarely applies.

“Everything is so issue based,” she said. “It’s really difficult

to determine who is aligned with who. I’ve been surprised many times

by the way people have voted.”

Several candidates who have lost previous elections have come back

to win after making a second attempt. Councilman Gil Coerper was

defeated during his first run in 2000 but made a successful bid in

2002. He says part of his success was his decision to retire from the

police force and campaign only for himself as opposed to running with

a block of candidates.

To anyone running for council, he advises, “Know your city and

know all the problems that are going on, because invariably you’re

going to be asked about it,” he said. “I may make some people happy

with a choice I make, but oftentimes there’s going to be a whole lot

of people unhappy. You have to look for what’s in the best interest

of Huntington Beach.

* DAVE BROOKS covers City Hall. He can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at dave.brooks@latimes.com.