Candidate tough to endorse, some say

Alicia Robinson

There’s a line somewhere between reserving the right to change one’s

mind and flip-flopping, and some observers think Newport Beach City

Councilman John Heffernan has crossed it.

At a forum held last week by the Central Newport Beach Community

Assn., Heffernan said he wouldn’t accept any endorsements in his

reelection campaign. But earlier that night, he had told the Newport

Beach Firefighters Assn. he would accept an endorsement from the

group he had initially declined.

Heffernan initially planned to steer clear of endorsements to

avoid being beholden to anyone if reelected, he said. That’s why he

isn’t accepting any campaign donations, he added.

“I didn’t want to feel compelled in any way when I make decisions

[to consider] how would the endorsing party feel about that,”

Heffernan said. “This stuff’s complicated enough without having to

filter through a bunch of endorsements.”

But after talking to the Newport Beach Police Employees Assn.,

Heffernan felt confident that he could accept endorsements without

being bound by them, he said.

The Newport Beach police and firefighter associations invited all

City Council candidates to interview for endorsements.

He isn’t soliciting the endorsements, Heffernan said; he’s simply

going to talk to groups that ask him.

“It is inconsistent for me to say I’m taking no endorsements and

then take them from the police or the firefighters, and I admit

that,” he said. “I think you do more damage if you don’t go talk to

them.”

But some observers said Heffernan’s shifting position on

endorsements reflects an inconsistency they’ve seen before.

“He had formally announced that he was not going to run for

reelection, and 15 minutes before the election application deadline,

he called and said that city staff had persuaded him to run,” said

Phil Arst, a spokesman for the Greenlight committee, a slow-growth

advocacy group Heffernan aligned himself with in the 2000 election.

Heffernan also announced plans to leave the council in 2002 but

promptly reconsidered that decision, noted Arst, who was at the

Thursday forum when the councilman revealed his no-endorsement

policy.

“It’s just my concern that with the number of flip-flops, we don’t

know what he’ll do in the future, whether he’ll stick out the job,”

Arst said. “We just don’t know what is going through his mind to do

this number of changes.”

Mayor Tod Ridgeway said after working with Heffernan for four

years, the policy switch doesn’t surprise him.

“John is very capable, very bright and needs to focus on what he

stands for,” Ridgeway said. “I think if he would do that, he would be

a very productive member of our City Council.”

City Council candidate Dolores Otting, Heffernan’s only opponent

for the District 7 seat, said she doesn’t begrudge Heffernan the

endorsements he’s received.

“He’s certainly entitled to the endorsements,” she said. “He

interviewed and he got them, but he shouldn’t say he’s not going to

[take endorsements] ... I think when you’re in leadership, you should

be decisive about what you’re going to do.”

While his colleagues and constituents may not always understand

him, Heffernan was quite clear in his answer to those who question

his motives in changing his positions.

“If they haven’t figured me out after four years and untold

thousands of hours in this job, they should not reelect me,” he said.

“People know where I stand. I make myself very clear.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].