Mailbag: 2 views on whether candidate Herdman can hold office

He should not be allowed to serve

Jeff Herdman is an appointed Civil Service member running for City Council. If he wanted to run, he should have resigned from the Civil Service Commission last July. This is analogous to the state’s revolving-door ordinance prohibiting retired council members from lobbying the city for one year to prevent conflicts of interest.

Herdman’s lame argument asserts that council members receive “reimbursement” — not a salary — for their services. Trying to get out of his conundrum, Herdman says he won’t take the council salary, if elected.

City Council members are clearly employees of the city; they receive a W-2 documenting salary. Council members are also categorized on the city’s website as employees.

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. Council members are city employees, and Herdman is ineligible to sit as a councilman in the unlikely event that he is elected.

Bob McCaffrey
Balboa Island

------------

FOR THE RECORD

July 20, 4:23 p.m.: An earlier version of this letter initially stated that Section 710 was added to the City Charter in 2012 to avoid conflicts involving the Civil Service Board. In fact, that section was part of the original City Charter. In addition, the letter made reference to the “city’s revolving-door policy prohibiting retired council members from lobbying the city for one year prior to prevent conflicts of interest.” The city policy, in fact, is rooted in state law.

------------

He should be allowed to serve

I find it hard to believe that Newport Beach City Clerk Leilani Brown has decided to deny the voters in Newport Beach’s District 5 the opportunity to vote for the most-qualified candidate in the upcoming city council election.

Her arbitrary ruling that candidate Jeff Herdman’s position on a city advisory board disqualifies from serving on the council until a year after he leaves that board may put an end to his candidacy, thus denying voters the opportunity to elect an honest and qualified candidate who is not part of the Bob McCaffrey Machine.

Why is the McCaffrey Machine so afraid of Herdman? Herdman cannot be bought and he will always put the interests of the voters first. Herdman is beholden to no one. He has no secret agenda or conflicts of interest. The voters, and not the city clerk, should decide this City Council election.”

Jeffrey S. Lloyd
Los Angeles