House race was over before it started...

House race was over before it started

It is inconceivable to me that the news media -- the big

metropolitan dailies as well as the Daily Pilot -- led its readers to

believe that there was a race for the 48th Congressional District

seat vacated by Chris Cox.

Here is how the system really works: The Republican Party

establishment decides who the replacement will be. Then the party’s

endorsements, money and election machinery (from targeted absentee

ballots to telephone calls) go toward assuring that the selected

candidate will win. John Campbell was selected long ago, and his

“election” has always been a certainty.

Want to know more? Ask a conservative Republican and former

Assemblyman Gil Ferguson how it works.

MARTIN A. BROWER

Corona del Mar

Fearing costs of a temporary city hall

I was astonished during the Sept. 27 Newport Beach City Council

meeting at the casual nonresponse of City Manager Homer Bludau to

council members’ questioning of temporary relocation planning efforts

while the proposed civic center is under construction. Apparently,

even the most basic examination of alternatives and identification of

service options and interrelationships have not been undertaken.

Given the history of mishandling of this project from the start, I

suppose it should have come as no surprise. Hiring a couple of real

estate agents to look for space should have been his last action, not

his first. They quite obviously had not been given even the most

basic direction -- probably because city staffers haven’t gotten

around to thinking about it yet.

Having been through this sort of thing a number of times in a

40-year business career, I can assure our city manager that it is

quite possible, even essential, to examine alternative scenarios in

depth, even though the final decisions have not been made.

Relocation could turn out to be a two-year exercise, and costs

could easily go north of $10 million if not tightly controlled. Mayor

John Heffernan’s incisive questioning on the subject was quite

appropriate and should have been unnecessary if this project were

being handled professionally.

Irrespective of opinion on the merits of the civic center issue as

a whole, a temporary relocation effort of this magnitude will be a

staggering, multidimensional undertaking. It’s not just a

find-some-space -and-we’ll-move-in-for- 18-months decision. Unless it

is carefully orchestrated, costs and service levels can easily reach

disastrous levels.

The current state of this planning effort (and the attitude of the

planners) speaks volumes to any experienced executive regarding the

potential problems ahead.

JOSEPH F. O’HORA

Newport Beach, CA

More to funding than just discretion

The answer to the question, “Should there be guidelines on how

Costa Mesa City Council members spend discretionary money?” seems

obvious. The answer, at first blush, is “Yes.”

In my opinion, the discussion really revolves around the

definition of two words: “discretionary” and “judgment.” One

definition of “discretionary” in my trusty dictionary reads as

follows: “Having or using the ability to act or decide according to

your own discretion or judgment.”

When you cast your vote for a council candidate, you may have said

to yourself, “I trust this person to use good judgment on my behalf,

as he or she goes about doing the city’s business.” Part of that

trust must, in my view, include how they dispense the dollars in our

city coffers, including the discretionary funds allocated to each of

them.”

The key here is judgment. If City Councilwoman Katrina Foley, in

her judgment -- and in light of the fact that there are no specific

guidelines -- felt the use of city dollars for the purposes mentioned

in Eric Bever’s complaint was an appropriate use of those funds, it

provides the voters in this city one element by which to measure her

performance as a council member.

The dollars in question are insignificant when compared with the

total budget. I would like to think that Mayor Allan Mansoor and

Councilman Eric Bever are just being good fiscal watchdogs when they

bring up this question.

I suspect, based on their behavior since the last election, this

may not necessarily be the case.

To me, this smacks of pure, petty, partisan politics. If a

majority on the council feels rules for the use of each member’s

discretionary funds are necessary, I caution them to make those rules

broad in scope and not try to micro-manage this issue.

One never knows how their decision might come back to bite them.

We are, after all, measuring their judgment, too.

GEOFF WEST

Costa Mesa