Bouncing Back : Former North County City Officials Are Victorious at Polls

The fall and rise of Larry Bagley began in 1975. Back then, Bagley was the city manager of Oceanside--but not for long.

After a variety of tiffs with the City Council, the usual sort of run-ins that occur in the volatile world of municipal politics, Bagley realized the end was near. Like any battle-scarred city manager, he could count the votes on his five-member council. One, two, three and he’d be out. So he resigned instead.

In 1980, however, Larry Bagley struck back. He ran for mayor, vying against some of the same politicians who had taken his professional scalp five years earlier. Bagley won in a landslide and has not looked back since, winning a second term in 1984.

The Oceanside mayor’s tale may sound atypical, but in North County these days it isn’t.

In Carlsbad, voters in November elected John Mamaux--fired as the city’s top administrator in 1967--to a spot on the council. And in nearby Vista, one-time City Manager Eugene Asmus also won a council seat with a strong showing at the polls last fall.

As supporters see it, these erstwhile city managers bring a wealth of knowledge to their new jobs as political leaders, a nuts-and-bolts understanding of how municipal government works. From balancing budgets to buying toilet paper for neighborhood parks, they know the ropes of running a city.

But some skeptics note that an intricate understanding of the workings of a city is no guarantee that such former administrators can decipher the Big Picture, the sort of wide-ranging view needed to steer a community on a steady course in fast-growing North County.

Moreover, they say, the danger exists that an ex-city manager could find the strict policy-making role of council member far too limiting and begin to exert his expertise in day-to-day operations, a duty reserved for staff.

Nonetheless, the three former administrators have proven immensely popular with the electorate. With nearly two terms under his belt, Bagley is expected to have few challengers should he de16678513651988, according to City Hall insiders. Asmus, meanwhile, was the top vote-getter in the November election in Vista, while Mamaux finished a strong second in a crowded field in Carlsbad.

“Their professional experience gives them a leg up on being a good city representative,” said Oceanside Councilwoman Lucy Chavez, a longtime resident of the area. “They have a good sense of the history of the city they represent and they bring that to the job. I think it helps.”

Others contend it is the personality of the men themselves, not just their past, that makes them effective politicians.

“I don’t think any of them were elected simply because they were former city managers,” said Carlsbad Councilwoman Ann Kulchin. “They were elected because they’re good candidates. They’ve each stayed active in the community and had a sincere desire to be on the other side of the table.”

Mamaux has his own theory.

“Over the years, I think the public finds that most good city managers are straight shooters,” he said. “They tell it as they see it. They don’t try to coat it. The public respects that they’re getting a straight answer.”

Although the return to political prominence has pleased each of the men, they all insist they did not seek elected office to settle a score with the past.

That may seem surprising, as each of them was forced from his job under unpleasant circumstances. Mamaux, in particular, experienced a frustrating and difficult episode.

After nearly four years as Carlsbad city manager, Mamaux was fired by the council when he got in a drunken brawl at a local pub in 1967. Mamaux has since quit drinking and served almost a decade on the Carlsbad school board. Still, his dismissal came up as an election issue in November.

The councilman does not hide his past. Indeed, Mamaux says today that he can’t fault the council for its decision to boot him.

“I didn’t like it, but I didn’t blame them,” he said. “So I didn’t have any revenge in mind.”

Asmus, too, says his election bid was not part of some hidden vendetta. In fact, he said, he had planned to resign anyway in 1973 after four years as Vista city manager. The council, however, beat him to the punch and asked him to leave after Asmus criticized the city leaders in a newspaper article, the councilman recalled.

Only one member of the council that ousted him remains--Mayor Gloria McClellan. And, although Asmus remains troubled and perplexed to this day that McClellan supported the move to force him out, the pair have found it easy to work together.

Like the others, Bagley said his decision to run for mayor in 1980 had nothing to do with bad feelings about his professional past. Rather, he says, the dearth of quality candidates and the sorry state of the city in 1980 helped prod him to run.

Some local politicos don’t buy that.

“The first time he ran, I think he ran on just a personal vendetta, to be honest,” said Ted Marioncelli, a former council colleague of Bagley. “It was fairly obvious he wanted revenge.”

Whatever the reason, Bagley has earned solid backing from the community during his years in office. And despite initial fears of some staff members, he has earned the respect of top management, who say the mayor stays well within the parameters of the council-manager form of government.

“From a staff perspective, it’s really nice to have someone who knows how a city runs,” said Dana Whitson, Oceanside’s special projects director. “Mayor Bagley fully understands the distinction between staff’s role and the role of the council.”

Indeed, Bagley said his past management experience, if anything, makes him more sensitive to steering clear of responsibilities that should be left up to staff members. And the role of a city manager has changed so dramatically over the years, he said, that he and the others are ill-equipped to start handing out advice on running the city on a day-to-day basis.

Mamaux agreed, noting that he plans to work hard to prove that opponents were wrong when they spread rumors during the recent election that he would “be a tyrant” with Carlsbad city employees.

Moreover, Mamaux has known Carlsbad City Manager Frank Aleshire for years, since the councilman was an administrative assistant in Beverly Hills and Aleshire was top administrator in Pico Rivera.

“He does the administrative work and I help make the policy,” Mamaux said. “And as long as he stays out of policy and I stay out of administrative work, I don’t think we’ll have a problem.”

Bagley and Mamaux both work full time at their political jobs.

Asmus, meanwhile, is in a unique position. He not only is a former Vista city manager, but also currently serves as assistant city manager in Chula Vista. Yet he, too, foresees no problems working with Vista City Manager Morris Vance.

Vance, Aleshire and Oceanside City Manager Suzanne Focault were at a conference in Monterey and could not be reached for comment on this report.

As the administrators-turned-councilmen see it, they bring several assets to the job of leading a city.

“For one thing, I think Larry, Gene and I bring a built-in thick skin to the job,” Mamaux said. “As city managers, we’ve taken some hits. We realize that people sometimes criticize just to criticize. And that’s important. As a councilman, they say you’re sworn in, then sworn at.”

Bagley agreed. “To many people, we’re the politicians, we’re the uncaring council, we’re the money spenders,” he said. “Yes, there’s a lot of abuse in it, but sometimes there’s a lot of fun in it.”

The trio’s administrative background makes it difficult for staff to get around giving straight answers to often tough questions, supporters say.

“Gene has opened my eyes a few times and I’ve been around for a while,” said Vista Mayor McClellan. “He spots things in staff reports the rest of us just do not see. We read the reports, but he knows what’s behind them. He sees things we miss. And I like that.”

While some critics worry privately that the former city managers sometimes look at issues from a narrow perspective because of their technical training, Mamaux suggested the past administrative experience of the North County trio does just the opposite.

“With our knowledge and experience, I think we probably have a better perspective of the region than perhaps the average person,” he said.

After two months, Mamaux says he loves his job as a Carlsbad councilman. Asmus, meanwhile, said he has not yet begun to feel at home in his new role.

“Gene is a perfectionist,” McClellan said. “He’s looking for the transition overnight, and that just doesn’t happen. It takes time for people to catch on.”

Bagley said he enjoyed his two terms on the Oceanside City Council much more than his five years as city manager.

“I don’t know if that’s because of the job,” he said with a laugh, “or because I’m old enough to know better.”