Recall Effort Is a Factor in Council Races

Lingering effects of a bitter recall election last year have divided the incumbent council members as they endorse candidates in this fall’s City Council campaign.

Seven candidates are running for the open seats of Cecilia L. Age and Gail H. Kerry, who are completing their second four-year terms and cannot seek reelection to the five-member council.

Age, Kerry and Mayor Walter K. Bowman were targeted for recall last year by residents who opposed a large carpet-distribution warehouse on Valley View Street. All three survived the recall vote, but some effects of that campaign linger.

Kerry, Bowman and Age are backing candidates Anna Piercy and Brian Sunley.

“We wanted candidates who are independent and who opposed the recall,” Kerry said. She particularly opposes candidate Tim Keenan, who ran for her seat in the recall election.

But Councilman Tom Carroll and Councilwoman Mary Ann Jones strongly support Keenan, who said he was not part of the recall-petition movement but simply offered himself as a candidate for Kerry’s seat if she were ousted.

Keenan said he opposed Kerry because she had backed a 1993 movement to establish a card club. Keenan, Carroll and Jones all were active in Cypress Citizens Against Card Clubs. Carroll and Jones, who rode the issue to overwhelming election victories in 1994, are endorsing Keenan in the Nov. 5 election.

The four other candidates are: Leo Friedland, Michael McGill, Steve Blount and Christen Marie Fouty. Friedland and Sunley resigned their positions as city park and recreation commissioners to run for the council.

candidates.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Contending in Cypress

Seven candidates are running for two open seats on the Cypress City Council. The race at a glance:

Steve Blount

Age: 47

Occupation: Corporate financial controller

Background: Member, advisory committees for Lincoln Avenue Specific Plan, Wicker Drive Land Use and Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center Restoration

Major issues: Opposes proposed daytime curfew for youth; favors revitalization and redevelopment of Lincoln Avenue and keeping the Wicker Drive property for public use

Christen Marie Fouty

Age: 18

Occupation: Student, Cypress College

Background: Civil Air Patrol member; recipient of Girl Scouts of America Silver Award; youth sports coach

Major issues: Opposes imposition of utility tax; favors redevelopment of Lincoln Avenue; wants programs to prevent drug traffic and gangs

Leo Friedland

Age: 65

Occupation: Human resources analyst

Background: Cypress Recreation and Parks commissioner for seven years; five years on Orange County Hiking, Biking, Equestrian Trails Committee

Major issues: Favors long-proposed Center for Cultural Arts, modern equipment for Police Department and “intelligent development” of Lincoln Avenue

Tim Keenan

Age: 43

Occupation: Business owner

Background: Communications coordinator for Cypress Citizens Against Card Clubs,

which led the defeat of the card club proposal in 1993; youth sports backer

Major issues: Favors “improvement of the pacing and scope of the redevelopment of Lincoln Avenue”; seeks long-range financial planning for city

Michael McGill

Age: 37

Occupation: Commercial insurance underwriter

Background: Youth sports coach; National Eagle Scout Assn. member; major in U.S. Marine Corps Reserves

Major issues: Seeks longer hours for library; wants implementation of advisory committee’s recent recommendations for Lincoln Avenue redevelopment; opposes any adult businesses in city

Anna Piercy

Age: 53

Occupation: Junior high school teacher

Background: PTA member; adult worker with Girl Scouts and American Youth Soccer Organization; member, Cypress Cultural Arts and Lincoln Avenue Specific Plan Advisory Committee

Major issues: Opposes any utility tax; wants development of family entertainment complex; supports redevelopment of Lincoln Avenue and passage of the flood-control bond issue

Brian Sunley

Age: 53

Occupation: Businessman

Background: Cypress Parks and Recreation commissioner for past five years

Major issues: Supports redevelopment of Lincoln Avenue and continued development of city’s business park

Source: Individual candidates; Researched by BILL BILLITER / For The Times