2 Cities’ Poll Results Seem to Have Deepened Divisions

Seal Beach and Dana Point, coastal cities at opposite ends of the county, both experienced reverberations from this week’s City Council elections.

Slow-growth candidates Patricia E. Campbell and incumbent Councilman George Brown won easily in Seal Beach, as expected, but their victory touched off a shock: Councilman Bill Doane suddenly resigned Wednesday, apparently in protest, some colleagues said.

In Dana Point, two local political careers were saved when Mayor Karen Lloreda and Councilman Harold R. Kaufman survived the first recall in the city’s short history.

But their slim margins of victory (Lloreda escaped recall by only 168 votes) confirmed what people had feared all along: Dana Point is a city that is seriously polarized.

In fact, Councilwoman Toni Gallagher, a recall supporter, said Wednesday that she does not yet accept Lloreda’s victory. With an estimated 45,000 votes still uncounted countywide, Lloreda still could be recalled, Gallagher said.

“I’m still hopeful she may not have won. It’s very possible,” Gallagher said. “Our polling showed the recall was supported by a 5-to-1 margin.”

For any healing to occur in Dana Point, the council must extricate itself from the power struggle that created the misguided recall in the first place, Kaufman said.

The recall proponents, he said, mistakenly characterized him and Lloreda as pro-development. Rather, he said, the recall advocates are “antidevelopment, antigrowth, and antiprogress.”

“This is pure politics,” said Kaufman, who with Lloreda and Councilwoman Judy Curreri form a majority. “It’s a 3-2 council, and they would like to have the third vote on their side instead of our side.”

Former mayor Michael Eggers, who ran for Lloreda’s seat in case the recall had succeeded, was not optimistic that anything would change in the near future. A council that has not been able to get along will remain intact, and another race looms in November.

“The polarization is not going to go away,” Eggers said Monday. “This town will get even more outrageous because everyone will begin gearing up for November.”

Councilman Bill Ossenmacher said he hoped for conciliation.

“It’s our job to try to work together and build consensus and try to bring our community back together,” said Ossenmacher, who is up for reelection in November. “We have a beautiful place to live here, and there is no reason to have a city so deeply divided, where people are trying to tear each other apart.”

Meanwhile, in Seal Beach, Doane surprised his colleagues Wednesday by submitting a letter to City Clerk Joanne Yeo indicating he was stepping down, effective immediately, for “health and personal reasons.”

Although Doane could not be reached for comment, others in the city said his resignation was prompted by Campbell’s victory. Doane had supported her opponent, Phillip K. Fife, a growth advocate.

Campbell called Doane’s resignation “unfortunate.”

“As a council member, you are elected to represent your people, and whether or not you serve is between you and your constituents, not between you and your other council members,” Campbell, a former city planning commissioner, said.

Since being appointed to the council in 1991, Doane has been a constant critic of Seal Beach’s aggressively slow-growth stance.

In 1993, he cast the lone vote against raising utility taxes to 11%--the highest in Orange County--to close a $1.7-million budget shortfall. Doane has said that his Leisure World constituents would be especially hurt by the tax.

Instead of new taxes, Doane has advocated wooing businesses to add revenue to city coffers.

Earlier this month, Doane was the lone dissenter in scaling back a coastal hotel plan from 300 to 150 rooms. Doane said it would prevent the nine-acre site’s development.