In Surprise Move, Wan Quits Council : Politics: His departure leaves the city's factions more divided than ever. The former mayor left office with a swipe at his nemesis on the panel, Walt Keller.

By RON RUSSELL

April 23, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

MALIBU — Outnumbered 4 to 1 and about to be replaced as mayor, Larry Wan abruptly quit Malibu’s City Council on Tuesday, leaving the community’s quarrelsome political factions more divided than ever.

“You can see that Malibu has not become Miami Beach. But tragically, in just two years, Malibu’s political landscape has been blighted by Chicago-style politics,” Wan said in announcing that he would not serve the remaining two years of his term.

And in a final act of defiance aimed at his nemesis, Councilman Walt Keller, who was selected as the new mayor, Wan declared, “I was hoping to crown him Emperor, but by acclaim, Mr. Keller, you’re now the new mayor of Malibu.”

Wan’s dramatic departure upstaged the swearing in of incumbent Carolyn Van Horn and newcomers Jeff Kramer and Joan House to the five-member council and shattered what the winners had hoped would be a conciliatory new beginning after a divisive municipal election campaign.

The trio, aided by support from the Malibu Grassroots Movement, a political action committee, as well as backing from Keller, trounced 17 other candidates last week--including incumbents Mike Caggiano and Missy Zeitsoff--to win four-year terms on the City Council.

Keller had served as mayor-elect for seven months before Malibu attained cityhood last spring, and as mayor during the first five months after incorporation before Wan, Caggiano and Zeitsoff ousted him in September.

Van Horn, who finished as the top vote-getter last week, and who with Keller is the only remaining council member among the original five chosen by voters in 1990, became mayor pro tem.

By law, the City Council may appoint a replacement to serve the remainder of Wan’s unexpired term or call a special election to fill the vacancy. It also has the option of appointing an interim council member to serve until a special election is held.

On Tuesday, the new four-member council voted unanimously against exempting from the city’s ban on the development of new commercial properties a proposed office complex whose limited partners include City Geologist Donald B. Kowalewsky and former council candidate Paul Grisanti.

Also by a unanimous vote, the council made an exception to its moratorium on new subdivisions for a man who wants to live in one unit of his beachfront duplex and rent the other, something he was prevented from doing under the moratorium law. The property owner, Roy Harrow, had filed a $10-million lawsuit against the city, contending that his property rights had been violated.

Wan’s departure was not the only discordant note to take some of the luster off what had been planned as a festive, non-confrontational first meeting of the City Council after the election.

Caggiano, in remarks before the swearing-in ceremony, took a verbal jab at the Malibu Grassroots Movement, or MGM, which targeted him and Zeitsoff for defeat.

“I’ve got to pay my respects to the grass-roots movement and its campaign,” he said. “You were the ultimate campaigners. Of course, Bonnie and Clyde were the ultimate bankers.”

Caggiano, who finished sixth among 20 candidates, hinted that he may try a political comeback in the future.

Alluding to his ouster from the Malibu Committee for Incorporation three years ago and blaming differences with Keller, the pro-cityhood group’s former co-chairman, Caggiano declared that he had “bounced back” from that dismissal to become a community leader, adding, “I think history will repeat itself.”

Zeitsoff did not show up at all.

On Wednesday, she said she stayed away “as a strong personal statement (against) the shameful behavior” of Keller and Van Horn, whom she accused of smearing her as being pro-development during the campaign. She called the triumph by the MGM-backed candidates “a dishonorable victory.”

Meanwhile, Van Horn called Wan’s resignation “a slap in the face to the community, forcing the taxpayers to possibly pay for another election after we’ve just gone through one.”

City officials have said a special election could cost up to $24,000.

“I think what you see is, if they don’t have complete control, they won’t play,” Van Horn said, referring to the former council majority.

She and Keller said they were disappointed that Wan chose to resign, not just because of the potential costs of an election should the council choose that option, but because Wan represented a constituency.

“I know what it’s like to be in the minority,” Van Horn said. “It’s very important to have that minority voice there for some kind of dialogue.”

At the time Wan became mayor last year, he made the unusual declaration that if at any time in the future, a majority of his colleagues were to request that he do so, he would not only resign as mayor, but would also step down from the City Council.

In an interview shortly after the election, Wan said he had grown weary of Malibu’s political infighting and acknowledged that he had been considering leaving the council for months. But he said that despite urging by his wife and others that he resign, he had decided to stay on at least for a while “to represent all those who feel disenfranchised” by the council’s new four-member majority.

His wife, Sara Wan, abruptly resigned from Malibu’s General Plan Task Force earlier this year. The couple were a prime target of those who supported the new council majority and who portrayed Caggiano, Zeitsoff and other candidates as part of a “Wan political machine.”

Partly because of the frontal assault against him, Wan made no endorsements during the election campaign, and just two weeks before the balloting, he and his wife left town for a 10-day vacation.

In an interview, Wan said he did not finally decide to call it quits until about 10 minutes before Tuesday’s session.

“In the final analysis, I just figured that being a lone jester in King Keller’s court wouldn’t accomplish anything,” he said.

He said he hopes that his departure serves as a wake-up call “for those like myself who are concerned about Malibu’s future” to galvanize into “a unified political power base.”

Keller said he preferred “not to respond to (Wan’s) personal attacks,” saying only that Wan’s resignation “seemed an inappropriate thing to do.”

“The important thing is to show this community that we can work in consensus for the good of everyone,” he said.