Making their moves

It will be open season next year for the Huntington Beach City Council, as four of the seven seats will be up for election and three council members will be termed out.

And already, nearly a dozen contenders are champing at the bit.

In the running for next year are Joe Shaw, a former planning and public works commissioner who aided former Mayor Debbie Cook’s 2008 congressional campaign; Norm Westwell, the president of the Ocean View School District’s board of trustees; John Von Holle, the former president of the city’s Municipal Employees Assn.; Dan Kalmick, a small-business owner and onetime congressional candidate; Planning Commissioners Barbara Delgleize and Fred Speaker; Realtor Bruce Brandt; and first-time challengers Erik Peterson and Bill Rorick.

Council members Jill Hardy, Cathy Green and Gil Coerper will be termed out next year, while incumbent Joe Carchio is eligible to run for reelection.

Candidates have until Aug. 6 to file statements of intention and may pull papers to run for council between July 12 and Aug. 6.

The city’s general election will take place Nov. 2, 2010.

City Clerk Joan Flynn said it was unusual to have so many candidates filing so early. She expected at least 15 people to be in the running by next fall.

“Our city is known for having a very rich pool of candidates,” Flynn said. “I believe we get into the teens many times. We haven’t recently. The last election cycle, we didn’t have many [candidates] comparatively, but I think this is just the beginning. I’ve had other people call to make appointments with me who just haven’t filed yet.”

Established figures

Shaw, a member of Huntington Beach’s Charter Review Commission, plans to hold a kickoff fundraiser at Cook’s home Oct. 24.

He served as a communications director for Cook’s campaign and ran unsuccessfully for the council in 2006. In his current campaign, he also has the support of Hardy, whom he considers a role model politically.

“Jill has consistently been a fiscally responsible, environmentally minded person on the City Council, and that’s certainly what I believe in,” Shaw said. “We’re both for having a sustainable city in the future. That’s our vision for Huntington Beach.”

Speaker, a planning commissioner for 10 years and the owner of S&S Auto, is basing his campaign around the theme of “Tax Payer First.”