Editorial

For years, Huntington Beach was known as a company town.

The Huntington Beach Co., better known as Chevron Oil, was a powerful

land development force that many believed steered city government from

behind the scenes, backing candidates and wielding considerable influence

in the business community.

That was a long time ago, though, and the Huntington Beach Co. has

since changed that image. City activists worked hard over the years to do

the same for Surf City government and put it into the hands of the

residents, who were the most affected by City Council actions.

The consequence has been that some developments that normally would

have sailed through, have faced much more strict scrutiny and bigger

hurdles to clear.

That has not always been good either, but that’s just how the game

works here and developers have learned how to work the system and get

their projects through.

Now, unfortunately, it seems there is a move afloat to reverse course

and give the big businesses like the AES power company, greater influence

over the City Council once again.

Currently, the seven members of the City Council are elected at-large,

meaning that the entire city votes to fill any open seats.

Now, however, lobbyist and former state Assemblyman Scott Baugh is

pushing for a plan that would break the city off into five districts,

cutting the number of council members by two and limiting the candidates

to those who live in that particular district.

At first blush, we thought the plan was worth discussing. Maybe having

a candidate who represents one particular area of town would be a good

thing. After all, it works in Newport Beach and other cities.

But the idea that AES, or any other large corporation for that matter,

is hawking that plan to have a better chance at getting sympathetic

council members elected and gain control of city government is a blatant

power grab that needs to be stymied.

Ed Blackford, the spokesman for AES, said that his company has given

Baugh $7,500 for the campaign to get the district issue on the November

ballot.

“Scott approached me about this concept and said that it was more of a

macro issue of providing more even representation and could perhaps end

up leading to a more business friendly environment,” Blackford said.

First, let’s be clear. Everyone deserves a place at the table of city

government, be it big business or just the average homeowner.

But when big business is trying to win the game by changing the rules,

then everyone who believes in fair, representative government should

reject that notion.

We urge Baugh to change his strategy.

Government, local or otherwise, should not be manipulated by any

group, business or otherwise. Instead, let’s debate the merits of a

district proposal that is free from the taint of big business money or

any money from similar special interests who are trying to gain

influence.