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Newshound (Newshound)
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 21, 2004 - 7:27 am: | |
Sept. 21-Appointment still any councilman's guess,Daily Pilot
Newport city leaders tonight will try to pick a replacement for former member Gary Adams.
Deirdre Newman
Daily Pilot
September 21, 2004
NEWPORT BEACH — Last year, Steve Rosansky was appointed to the council on members' first ballot.
Tonight, as the council tries to replace Gary Adams, the ease of Rosansky's appointment is a distant memory, and it's anybody's guess how many ballots it will take.
The difference between then and now is the large number of visible candidates and the fierce competition behind the scenes, Councilman Steve Bromberg said.
"I would not bet the farm that we are even going to be able to appoint someone [tonight]," Bromberg said. "I just don't know. It's so diverse out there. There's lots of lobbying by third parties in favor of other people."
The nine hopefuls vying to be appointed are: John Blom, a Corona del Mar photography studio owner; Timothy Brown, chair of the English and speech communication department at Riverside Community College and a Parks, Beaches and Recreation commissioner; Michael Browning, owner of a real estate firm; Leslie Daigle, a planning commissioner and owner of a land-use consulting business; Barry Eaton, a planning commissioner and retired planning director; Charles Griffin, a retired aviation engineer; Gerald Hegger, an independent insurance agent; Richard Luehrs, president of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce; and Ron Winship, owner of a film-production company.
Each candidate will get 25 minutes for an interview, but they don't usually last that long, Bromberg said. Both Bromberg and Mayor Tod Ridgeway agree that how the candidates handle themselves during the interview will carry a lot of weight.
"It's important for me to hear each person and how they answer the questions and how they present themselves in a public forum," Ridgeway said. "And until I hear that, I have to say I'm keeping an open mind on this one. I think I have to."
Last week, the council decided on a voting process — suggested by Rosansky — for choosing the appointment.
Any candidate who receives no votes on a ballot will be eliminated. And at least two candidates have to receive five votes to eliminate candidates who receive one or no votes on that ballot.
If council members can't agree on an appointment tonight, they will continue the process to their regularly scheduled meeting of Sept. 28. If no one is appointed on or before Oct. 1, a special election will be called to find a replacement.
Hopefully, it won't come to that, Bromberg said.
"My sense is we've got to appoint someone and not put the people through a special election," Bromberg said. "I don't think it would be a healthy situation. It would be costly, and there would be three months, maybe longer, without a [replacement]."
Adams' district includes the Upper Newport Bay, Eastbluff, newly incorporated areas in Santa Ana Heights and areas near the airport. He resigned Sept. 1 to relocate his family to Washington, D.C., for a job promotion.
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