Making their moves

It will be open season next year for the Huntington Beach City Council, as four of the seven seats will be up for election and three council members will be termed out.

And already, nearly a dozen contenders are champing at the bit.

In the running for next year are Joe Shaw, a former planning and public works commissioner who aided former Mayor Debbie Cook’s 2008 congressional campaign; Norm Westwell, the president of the Ocean View School District’s board of trustees; John Von Holle, the former president of the city’s Municipal Employees Assn.; Dan Kalmick, a small-business owner and onetime congressional candidate; Planning Commissioners Barbara Delgleize and Fred Speaker; Realtor Bruce Brandt; and first-time challengers Erik Peterson and Bill Rorick.

Council members Jill Hardy, Cathy Green and Gil Coerper will be termed out next year, while incumbent Joe Carchio is eligible to run for reelection.

Candidates have until Aug. 6 to file statements of intention and may pull papers to run for council between July 12 and Aug. 6.

The city’s general election will take place Nov. 2, 2010.

City Clerk Joan Flynn said it was unusual to have so many candidates filing so early. She expected at least 15 people to be in the running by next fall.

“Our city is known for having a very rich pool of candidates,” Flynn said. “I believe we get into the teens many times. We haven’t recently. The last election cycle, we didn’t have many [candidates] comparatively, but I think this is just the beginning. I’ve had other people call to make appointments with me who just haven’t filed yet.”

Established figures

Shaw, a member of Huntington Beach’s Charter Review Commission, plans to hold a kickoff fundraiser at Cook’s home Oct. 24.

He served as a communications director for Cook’s campaign and ran unsuccessfully for the council in 2006. In his current campaign, he also has the support of Hardy, whom he considers a role model politically.

“Jill has consistently been a fiscally responsible, environmentally minded person on the City Council, and that’s certainly what I believe in,” Shaw said. “We’re both for having a sustainable city in the future. That’s our vision for Huntington Beach.”

Speaker, a planning commissioner for 10 years and the owner of S&S; Auto, is basing his campaign around the theme of “Tax Payer First.”

A fiscal conservative, he would seek to curb the city’s spending, particularly on the Downtown Specific Plan, if elected.

“I’m a small businessman in the city and I care about the city, and that’s why my hat’s in the ring,” Speaker said.

His colleague, Delgleize, has been on the Planning Commission for only nine months, having been appointed in January to replace Devin Dwyer, who moved to the City Council. A former president of the Orange County Assn. of Realtors, Delgleize won the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce’s 2007 Athena Award, which honors professional women who serve the community.

Delgleize said she has been living in Huntington Beach for more than 30 years and knows from that time and her experience as a Realtor what makes a community good — good services, schools, parks, roads and safety.

“I feel responsible for taking care of these items and that is why I want to serve the community,” she said.

Von Holle is also an established figure in town, having volunteered for more than two decades in the Huntington Beach Fourth of July Parade. He plans to retire in November after 35 years with the city’s Public Works Department.

“I love the city,” Von Holle said. “I’ve worked here 35 years, and it’s been good to me. I’ve had a real good time here.”

Giving it another shot

In addition to Shaw, other names on the ballot may be familiar from past council elections.

Westwell, a Libertarian, is entering his fifth race for the council. If elected, he would push for the city to streamline its services, spend less money and reduce the size of government through attrition. In the past, he said, he thought of himself as a fringe candidate, but said his experience with the school district has given him a higher profile.

“I have a record now,” Westwell said. “People can look at what I’ve done, and they’re not frightened of the Libertarian guy that’s out there.”

Brandt, a retired Boeing executive and the owner of Zanadu Realty, also ran unsuccessfully for the council in 2008. He ran a low-key campaign last time, but said the turnout encouraged him to try again.

“Last time, I had 14,000 or so votes, and that’s clearly more people than I know,” Brandt said. “So that made me feel good.”

Kalmick, who owns the Seal Beach consultant firm Flashlight Technologies, ran for Congress and City Council in 2008, losing both races. Only 25 when he ran against Cook, he would have been the youngest member of the House of Representatives had he won.

Even though his back-to-back campaigns were unsuccessful, Kalmick said, he learned enough from them to opt for a third try. He supports expanding public transportation and preserving the city’s open space. Also, like Speaker, he wants the city to put less emphasis on downtown and more on other problems that need attention.

“Yes, we are a tourist destination,” Kalmick said. “But there’s about 200,000 people who have to live here.”

New to the race

Even newer on the political scene are Peterson and Rorick, both of whom are making their first runs for council.

Peterson, a graduate of Huntington Beach High School, owns communications company MergedNet. He favors preserving the Bolsa Chica Wetlands and opposes annexing Sunset Beach, which he considers a tax grab for the city.

“I figure the community is where it starts,” Peterson said. “That’s how our country started.”

Rorick, the vice president of technology company MagTek in Seal Beach, said he intends to run on a conservative platform of low taxes and small government. Among the groups he’s seeking an endorsement from is the Orange County Taxpayers Assn.

“Taxes and spending, I’m conservative on those kinds of issues,” he said. “I thought, maybe instead of sitting around, I could get involved in local politics and make sure things don’t get out of hand.”