Newport Beach councilman resigns

John Heffernan cites time commitment as reason for leaving; he says 2004 challenger should replace him.Newport Beach City Councilman John Heffernan on Thursday announced he’s stepping down from the council after serving for five years, including a six-month stint as mayor in 2005.

He ran for reelection in 2004 and would have been termed out in 2008. Now the council will have to replace him, likely with an appointment.

Heffernan submitted a resignation letter Wednesday to Mayor Don Webb and City Manager Homer Bludau, citing the time involved in serving on the council. Resigning will allow Heffernan to devote more time to his wife and two teenage sons, and his mother and her sister, he said. He also works full time as an attorney.

“The demands of elected office have remained consistently high, so what was a conflict before has become impossible to juggle,” he said.

Heffernan has recommended the council appoint Dolores Otting, who lost to him by 3,125 votes in 2004.

Otting said Thursday she was shocked by Heffernan’s resignation but pleased that he thought highly enough of her to suggest she take his place.

In fact, she said, she wouldn’t have run against him in 2004 if he had filed his candidacy papers earlier. He submitted his paperwork the day of the deadline.

“I like him,” she said. “There was just nobody running.”

Heffernan’s resignation wasn’t a surprise to everyone, particularly after he nearly resigned in 2002 and filed papers for reelection at the last minute in 2004. But his work on the council still earned him praise from some.

“His waffling on whether or not to run for a second term and now pulling out of this one after he pledged to do it is a little of a concern, but when he served as mayor, we thought he did a great job,” said Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce President Richard Luehrs.

Some viewed Heffernan as an individualist who frequently went against the majority. He said another factor in his resignation was the inability to accomplish his goals.

“I don’t think I was as effective as the people that elected me expected me to be,” he said. “I’m a results-oriented guy, and I wasn’t getting many results that I was satisfied with.”

As a councilman, he tried unsuccessfully to get traffic calming measures for the Port Streets, which are in his district, and he failed to smooth out a dispute between some council members and Newport Coast residents over the ownership of ball fields, he said.

The tenor of the council could change with Heffernan’s departure. Webb said Heffernan’s independent streak didn’t impede the council’s work and actually served an important role.

“He wasn’t always necessarily with the majority, but I think that he brought out the other side of issues, which I think we all have to look at and consider when making our decisions,” Webb said.

But Councilman Tod Ridgeway said with so many important issues on the table at once -- the general plan amendment and civic center project, for example -- the council needs to work toward consensus.

“There are times, maybe on specific issues, [when] contrarians serve a useful purpose,” he said. “But on the larger issues, if you can’t come to the table to attempt to find a consensus, then you’re not serving the people.”

Some of Heffernan’s past backers will now shift their attention elsewhere. He initially ran for office with support from the slow-growth Greenlight Committee, which was satisfied with his representation.

“While we’re disappointed that Heffernan, who has been logical in his analysis of city problems, is not continuing ... its clear that Dolores [Otting] should be appointed to his place because of her high election results,” Greenlight spokesman Phil Arst said.

The city charter says the council must take applications and try to appoint a replacement within 30 days. The appointee will have to run in November to be elected to the balance of Heffernan’s term, which ends in 2008.

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* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at [email protected].

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