Fate of Ryan and Wilson could be decided soon
The fate of the two incumbents seeking new four-year City Council terms might be decided within the next three weeks, well before the scheduled Nov. 7 election date.
If the contest attracts numerous challengers, Ken Ryan and Keri Wilson will benefit, because a possibly large anti-incumbent vote would be split among several candidates.
However, if Ryan and Wilson face just one or two individuals with name recognition and community service credentials, their re-election chances could narrow significantly.
Even popular office-holders draw some anti-incumbent votes, and this year Yorba Linda’s council members are still reeling from their now-reversed decisions on Town Center zoning changes and allowing possible eminent domain use in the downtown area.
Filing for the two positions on the city’s five-member governing body opened Monday and will close Aug. 11. In the unlikely event Ryan and Wilson don’t draw at least one challenger, they would be appointed to new four-year terms.
Numerous names on the ballot also would scatter fund-raising efforts among the many challengers, giving Ryan and Wilson a huge lead in financing a campaign aimed at the city’s registered voters—40,355 at last count.
Ryan already had $11,846 in his campaign treasury by the end of 2005, and Wilson held a well-attended fund-raiser June 16 at the Black Gold Golf Club. They each spent about $35,000 to gain their seats in 2002, with Wilson winning by an official three-vote margin.
Interestingly, eight of 26 council members have been turned out of office in the 20 municipal elections held in Yorba Linda’s 39 years as a city.
Three of the original five councilmen selected on the 1967 incorporation ballot were dumped in a hard-fought 1970 contest. Burt Brooks, Bill Ross and Herb Warren lost their seats to challengers who supported stricter low-density zoning.
From then on, only five council members have been forced from office, one at a time.
They include Anton “Doug” Groot, who lost a second term by 14 votes in 1980, and the city’s first mayor, Roland Bigonger, who returned to office in 1986 after retiring from the council in 1972. Bigonger lost an especially bitter re-election campaign in 1990.
Other re-election defeats were suffered by Irwin Fried, who lost a fifth term by 783 votes in 1992; Dan Welch, who lost a second term by 574 votes in 1996; and Mark Schwing, who lost a fourth term by 101 votes in 2000.
A FINAL NOTE
Stop YL Recall leaders say they’re using money raised from local residents and businesses to pay for their modest number of roadway signs and newspaper ads.
By contrast, developers and real estate-related interests at last report spent $168,000 to oppose Measure B, the citizen-sponsored Right-to-Vote initiative, and $115,000 against the grass roots petition drive seeking a vote on the council’s unpopular, now-dead Town Center zoning regulations. Not one dime was reported donated by Yorba Linda residents.
Let’s hope incumbents Ryan and Wilson and all challengers follow the wise example of the anti-recall group and Measure B’s proponents and entirely fund their council campaigns with reasonably sized donations from local residents and businesses.
Candidates shouldn’t solicit or accept money from outside-the-city developers, firms with city contracts and other individuals or businesses whose profits depend on council votes.
If the contest attracts numerous challengers, Ken Ryan and Keri Wilson will benefit, because a possibly large anti-incumbent vote would be split among several candidates.
However, if Ryan and Wilson face just one or two individuals with name recognition and community service credentials, their re-election chances could narrow significantly.
Even popular office-holders draw some anti-incumbent votes, and this year Yorba Linda’s council members are still reeling from their now-reversed decisions on Town Center zoning changes and allowing possible eminent domain use in the downtown area.
Filing for the two positions on the city’s five-member governing body opened Monday and will close Aug. 11. In the unlikely event Ryan and Wilson don’t draw at least one challenger, they would be appointed to new four-year terms.
Numerous names on the ballot also would scatter fund-raising efforts among the many challengers, giving Ryan and Wilson a huge lead in financing a campaign aimed at the city’s registered voters—40,355 at last count.
Ryan already had $11,846 in his campaign treasury by the end of 2005, and Wilson held a well-attended fund-raiser June 16 at the Black Gold Golf Club. They each spent about $35,000 to gain their seats in 2002, with Wilson winning by an official three-vote margin.
Interestingly, eight of 26 council members have been turned out of office in the 20 municipal elections held in Yorba Linda’s 39 years as a city.
Three of the original five councilmen selected on the 1967 incorporation ballot were dumped in a hard-fought 1970 contest. Burt Brooks, Bill Ross and Herb Warren lost their seats to challengers who supported stricter low-density zoning.
From then on, only five council members have been forced from office, one at a time.
They include Anton “Doug” Groot, who lost a second term by 14 votes in 1980, and the city’s first mayor, Roland Bigonger, who returned to office in 1986 after retiring from the council in 1972. Bigonger lost an especially bitter re-election campaign in 1990.
Other re-election defeats were suffered by Irwin Fried, who lost a fifth term by 783 votes in 1992; Dan Welch, who lost a second term by 574 votes in 1996; and Mark Schwing, who lost a fourth term by 101 votes in 2000.
A FINAL NOTE
Stop YL Recall leaders say they’re using money raised from local residents and businesses to pay for their modest number of roadway signs and newspaper ads.
By contrast, developers and real estate-related interests at last report spent $168,000 to oppose Measure B, the citizen-sponsored Right-to-Vote initiative, and $115,000 against the grass roots petition drive seeking a vote on the council’s unpopular, now-dead Town Center zoning regulations. Not one dime was reported donated by Yorba Linda residents.
Let’s hope incumbents Ryan and Wilson and all challengers follow the wise example of the anti-recall group and Measure B’s proponents and entirely fund their council campaigns with reasonably sized donations from local residents and businesses.
Candidates shouldn’t solicit or accept money from outside-the-city developers, firms with city contracts and other individuals or businesses whose profits depend on council votes.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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