Final Election Numbers

AT LAST
Well, the votes have been counted, and counted, and counted, Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley has certified the election and that fat chick has finally sung.  All that is left is for the Costa Mesa City Council to pass a resolution accepting the vote count in the city council race before the chairs are shuffled next Tuesday evening and Sandy Genis replaces the lamest of lame duck council members, Eric Bever.

 THE CERTIFIED RESULTS

 To absolutely nobody's surprise, Rohrabacher crushed Ron Varasteh.  Did he actually spend ANY money on his campaign?  I mean beyond what he paid his wife...

 Despite missing some prime campaigning time due near the end of the race to a personal family tragedy, Bob Rush still managed to convince 43.4% of the voters in this race that he was the better choice than the candidate anointed by the OC GOP.  This result should make Scott Baugh and his pals more than a little nervous.

 155 votes separated Gary Monahan and John Stephens and a completely different mindset by a majority on the council.  We'll see if the "kinder, gentler" Jim Righeimer uses the power of the majority with an even hand or if he continues down the path he's followed for the past two years.  We'll never know the actual impact the presence of Al Melone and James Rader had on the results, but it's pretty darn frustrating when you realize that Rader wanted off the ballot as soon as he filed.  How his 2,449 votes would have been distributed is fodder for much speculation.

 My biggest smiles are reserved for this particular result.  Having Jim Righeimer's Charter go down to such a resounding defeat tells me that sometimes the voters do actually listen.  Of course, he is now attempting to spin this crushing defeat to mean that people DO want a charter, just not that one.  We'll see how that plays out over the next few weeks, likely beginning with the council meeting on December 4th.

 We learned from this race that the attempt by the OC GOP to take over every elected body in Costa Mesa has failed, big time.  The win by Jim Ferryman and Art Perry over OC GOP darlings Don Harper and Jeff Mathews is good news for the rate-payers of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District.

 I have mixed feelings about these races.  I'm OK that Jim Fisler defeated Dan Worthington.  I'm giddy that Fred Bockmiller ground Eric Bever into the turf.  I'm disappointed that Righeimer protege' Ethan Temianka outspent Trudy Ohlig-Hall to oust her from the seat she's held for decades.  I wonder just how focused young Ethan will be on this job since he's apparently expanding his business operations to Arizona.

 This result is good news for the folks at Coast Community College District and those it serves.

This was a curious race, with the City of Newport Beach asking the voters to pass a large bucket of changes to its charter - 38 in all - all at one time. 

BACK TO BUSINESS

So, folks, it's over for a couple years.  Time to put our noses to the old grindstone and get on with the business of the city. The Primary Election for the 2014 cycle is eighteen months away.  It seems likely that Jim Righeimer will try to jam another version of a charter down our throats on that ballot again.  I hope the folks that might be involved in a new charter effort will push back on that, and design a timetable to get the charter - I'm STILL not convinced we need one - onto the General Election ballot two years from now.

WE'LL SEE...

I'm willing to give Righeimer the benefit of the doubt (BIG DOUBT!) for the time being and see if he is sincere with what appears to be a new spirit of cooperation as described in the Orange County Register HERE.  We'll know soon...