Councilman was worthy but hindered

John Heffernan is leaving the Newport Beach City Council the only way, seemingly, he could: His own. Heffernan, who was first elected to the council in 2000 as a Greenlight-backed candidate, announced last week that he is resigning his position, largely so he can spend more time with his family.

Heffernan has spent the past five years as a maverick persona on the council -- but a maverick of the thoughtful, almost logical kind. When he alone asked questions, they were not merely for the sake of hearing himself speak; they were not ridiculous; they were not clueless. But even when they were incisive, his voice and his concerns frequently were meaningless. Though he learned to play the council game and interacted with his colleagues well enough, he was never an insider and thus never a mover and shaker. By his own admission, he was not able to get much done during his abbreviated five-year career.

Still, Heffernan did a fine job during the six months he served as mayor. (He played along well enough to get that post after Steve Bromberg had to resign when he became a Superior Court judge.) He handled the St. Andrews Church expansion meeting with a deft hand. He ran numerous meetings during which the proposed city hall was the contentious topic of the day. He handled them all firmly, fairly and with a no-nonsense manner that was a credit to him and the council.

Again, by his own admission, he was not able to accomplish a lot during his tenure. Heffernan will have to live with that unfortunate fact as his legacy.

Heffernan also can expect to be remembered as the councilman who was the most likely to resign. In 2002, he announced plans to step down and then reversed his decision. He waited until the last moments to decide to run for reelection in 2004. He was never shy about how time consuming he found the position to be. For that reason, despite the fine job he’s done -- and the City Council will be lesser without him -- Heffernan perhaps should not have decided to run for reelection and perhaps should have stuck with his decision to resign in 2002. He did work diligently for the city, but perhaps he simply couldn’t give the job his all.

As if to prove he would be a contrarian to the end, Heffernan asked his former colleagues to appoint Newport resident, council watchdog and critic (and Daily Pilot columnist) Dolores Otting to fill his spot. Otting ran against Heffernan in 2004, but got in the race only when it appeared Heffernan was not going to run for reelection. Heffernan received 20,233 votes in that race to Otting’s 17,108.

With her affinity for the slow-growth Greenlight group and other council opponents, it is difficult to imagine the remaining six members of the council happily adding her to their midst. And while it is too early to say definitively that she is the obvious choice, her 17,108 votes are more than Councilwoman Leslie Daigle or Councilman Ed Selich have received -- both, appointed to the council, have not yet run for their seats. Her votes also are more than the 2002 numbers for Mayor Don Webb, who received 12,877 votes; Councilman Tod Ridgeway, who got 13,541; and Councilman Dick Nichols, who gained 10,929 in a three-person race. Only Councilman Steve Rosansky, who garnered 20,159 in 2004, can claim more support.

Citing those numbers is far from a definitive argument in support of Otting, of course. They are out of context and out of time. But the numbers also can’t be ignored, and the City Council would be smart at least to give them some credence before passing Otting over. Certainly, if they do not appoint her, they again will raise the ire of those in the community who have complained in the past when the council’s previous appointments were made.