Mailbag: Failed recall effort cost Huntington Beach in more than dollars

The attempt to recall six members of the Huntington Beach City Council has failed — miserably. The first target, Councilwoman Rhonda Bolton, was not even eligible for recall, but that did not stop the recallers. They then failed to scrape up the bare minimum number of signatures to even bother with the county validation process for their next two targets, Mayor Barbara Delgeleize and Councilwoman Natalie Moser. Finally, signatures targeting the reasonable and responsible Mayor Pro Tem Mike Posey and council members Kim Carr and Dan Kalmick were not nearly enough to trigger a recall but were submitted for validation (at $3 a signature) anyway. The cost to the city for this fiasco is nearly $144,000, according to Daily Pilot reporting.

And now, the recallers want a recount. Will they pay for it from their own pockets? Or will they cause our tax dollars to be misdirected — again?

Anyone in the recaller organization who intends to take any part in city governance would do well to reimburse the city for this misadventure. I particularly call on declared City Council candidate Casey McKeon and his 2020 running partner (who I assume will enter the race shortly) Gracey van der Mark, to repudiate the recall and the recount demand and to make the city coffers whole. Otherwise, any such candidate will campaign for council under the cloud of having misappropriated city funds for their own personal and political benefit — before even being elected to an office. Such a track record would be evidence of a predisposition to corrupt governance and a clear intention to defraud the city if ever elected to office.

Galen Pickett
Huntington Beach

As the Huntington Beach recall comes to a merciful end, I’d like to offer my sincerest condolences to its proponents. While I found every aspect of this destructive effort contemptuous, petty and meanspirited, my humanity precludes me from celebrating the failures and misadventures of others.

Rather than gloat, I’m offering a kind of written participation trophy. Sure, you tried really hard to cast our community into utter chaos and stick H.B. taxpayers with a million-dollar bill besides, but still, even an effort to undermine our local government is worthy of some acknowledgment, isn’t it?

We mustn’t overlook those long hours spent demagoguing city policies, conjuring up unsupported claims of corruption and demonizing individual council members on various social media platforms. These things don’t just happen. Someone’s gotta possess both the blind cynicism and put in the time to produce all those disingenuous mailers in our mailboxes. And, of course, no one should forget all those hours spent “manning the barricades” in shopping center parking lots heckling passersby and spreading disinformation about our local government. That couldn’t have been easy.

So I really have to hand it to you. While your efforts were laced with cynicism and overtly divisive, you certainly gave it your best.

While I understand your merry band of malcontents has committed to “fight on,” please don’t. Instead, may I suggest channeling your energies toward more constructive goals and affirmative engagement with our local elected officials and city staff? Perhaps working with them rather than just demonizing them will net the results you seek. Who knows, possessing such a positive mindset may just put a smile on your face and better our community at the same time.

Steve Shepherd
Huntington Beach

I feel I must respond to the Direct Argument in Favor of Measure B and rebuttal to the argument against it as found on the Newport Beach city website, signed by Councilmen Will O’Neill and Noah Blom and mailed to voters in Newport Beach.

The argument opens by asking, “Should you choose who your Mayor is? Or should someone else choose for you?” Here’s what is ironic about these questions: You already choose your mayor every time you vote for City Council candidates. Under our 67-year-old system of governance, the mayor comes from those seven people you elect to represent you. So in essence, you have been directly electing your mayor ever since our city fathers wrote and voters approved our City Charter.

The argument refers to the power to select a mayor being in the hands of the City Council. This is simply not so. By electing candidates to represent you, you are also saying that you would be OK with any of those candidates serving as mayor.

The rebuttal refers to the political action committee that has been formed to oppose this measure as “No Elected Mayor.” Initially, that was the name of the PAC, however a more recent name change to “No Power Grab — No on B” more appropriately describes exactly what is going on here.

On the surface, if you were asked if you would like to directly elect your mayor, of course the answer is going to be affirmative. However, in this particular case, it is absolutely critical to look further into this proposed change in our City Charter and system of governance. Proponents claim the proposal for a directly elected mayor is straightforward. If you go deeper into it, this measure grants almost complete authority and power to the mayor for determining the future direction of this city. So what is wrong with that, you ask? Consider the fact that this proposed measure completely opens the door to anyone with enough money to fund such a campaign to run for the office of mayor. Anyone! No short- or long-term residency in the city; no experience in governing; no experience with serving on city committees, boards or commissions; no knowledge of the history or culture of our city. Newport Beach will be completely politicized.

Read a little deeper and you will discover why the PAC chose the title of “No Power Grab.” This measure would give the mayor “near complete control over the council agenda’s content,” as stated in the Rebuttal to Argument in Favor of Measure B.

There are all kinds of ramifications resulting from this level of authority. Ben Franklin stated that he is “a mortal enemy to arbitrary government and unlimited power.” Way back in the 1700s, Franklin knew the dangers of giving one person too much power and the ability to arbitrarily make decisions.

I’ll ask you a few questions now: Are you willing to take the risk involved in this measure and give such authority to one individual? What is wrong with the current system of selecting the mayor from council members you have already elected? What problem exists that needs fixing with this measure? If approved, wouldn’t we, in fact, be creating the potential for the creation of a whole new batch of problems? Just look at the city of Westminster, which is looking to ask voters to actually approve going back to the system that has worked so well here in Newport Beach for 70 years. The directly elected mayor proposal that voters approved in that city has resulted in nothing but corruption.

For more information please visit the NoPowerGrab.com website.

Jeff Herdman
Newport Beach City Council
2016-20

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