2006 campaigns start up

Alicia Robinson

The 2006 election season is already underway, with two Orange County

Supervisor seats up for grabs because incumbents Jim Silva and Tom

Wilson are termed out.

Former Laguna Niguel City Councilman Eddie Rose recently announced

he’ll run for Wilson’s 5th District seat -- representing Newport

Coast as well as Laguna Beach and points south -- and former

Assemblywoman Patricia Bates and Laguna Niguel Councilwoman Cassie

DeYoung have already begun campaigns.

County Treasurer-Tax Collector John Moorlach and Huntington Beach

Assemblyman Tom Harman are planning to run for Silva’s 2nd District

seat, which represents the remainder of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.

As a city councilman, Rose often opposed his colleagues on

development issues, and he says he has a 100% voting record in

support of environmental issues. If he is elected supervisor, he

said, he will oppose the extension of the Foothill Transportation

Corridor and the planned 14,000-home Rancho Mission Viejo

development.

Now an Independent, Rose was formerly a Republican but in 2000 ran

for Congress as a Reform Party candidate.

DeYoung has been on the Laguna Niguel City Council since 1998 and

has been a deputy district attorney for Orange County and served on

the Orange County Transportation Authority board.

Law enforcement, transportation issues and land use would be

DeYoung’s top priorities as a supervisor, she said.

Bates, a Republican, served in the Assembly from 1998 to 2004. She

also has served on the Laguna Niguel City Council and was the city’s

first mayor when it incorporated in 1989.

Bates could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

There hasn’t traditionally been much competition for the 5th

District seat, UC Irvine political scientist Mark Petracca said.

Wilson was appointed to the board in 1996 after Marian Bergeson

stepped down, and he ran unopposed in 2002.

Newport Coast residents aren’t likely to sway the vote, since they

don’t pay much attention to county politics. The city of Newport

Beach, which annexed Newport Coast in 2002, handles police, fire and

most other municipal services to the area.

In fact, Newport Coast residents pushed for the annexation because

they felt ignored by Wilson and the rest of the supervisors, said Jim

McGee, a Pelican Hill resident who chairs the Newport Coast Advisory

Committee.

“We felt as residents that we were not getting any attention at

the county level,” he said. “As a new community, most of the issues

that we consider important are much more local than countywide

issues.”

In an election, Newport Coast residents might clash with the rest

of the 5th district, which is considered south Orange County, said

Newport Beach City Councilman Dick Nichols, whose council district

includes most of Newport Coast. South County has been at odds with

its northern neighbors over the proposed El Toro airport and other

issues

Wilson said that while he’s addressed some development concerns

for Newport Coast residents, they’re usually not interested in

politics unless an issue directly affects them -- just like the rest

of Orange County.

But the rest of Newport might want to keep an eye on the

supervisors’ race for another reason.

The board will decide whether to grant the city more control over

a number of county facilities including John Wayne Airport and

tidelands in the Back Bay. City and county officials have been

meeting to discuss those issues since early 2004.