Council aids Katrina relief

The Newport Beach City Council on Tuesday upped the city’s ante for

Hurricane Katrina relief, voting to give $10,000 to two cities,

Biloxi, Miss., and New Orleans.

The city already sent four firefighters to the Gulf Coast to

assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The firefighters

weren’t sure where they’d be deployed when they left last week, but

they expected to stay up to 30 days.

Costa Mesa officials are ready to send four people from the city’s

fire department, but FEMA has asked that no one be deployed right

now, Costa Mesa Fire Department spokeswoman Barbara Marcosa said.

“Costa Mesa firefighters are very eager to assist with this

effort,” she said.

Candidates collect their endorsements

The campaign for the 48th District Congressional seat is rolling

inexorably forward, with endorsements still coming in. Last week,

Democrat Steve Young -- a Newport Beach attorney -- captured the

endorsement of an Orange County chapter of Democracy for America, the

outgrowth of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s grass-roots

presidential campaign. The national group recruits and backs

progressive candidates.

The national organization is expected to follow the local

endorsement and also contribute $5,000 to Young, said Melahat Khwaja,

a local meet-up organizer for Democracy for America. Young is one of

four Democrats vying to succeed former Rep. Chris Cox. Also running

are 10 Republicans and three minor-party candidates.

“Steve Young won by a landslide,” Khwaja said. “A lot of people

running in that district have a defeatist mentality because it’s a

Republican district, and Steve Young doesn’t have that mentality.”

Over the weekend, Republican candidate Marilyn Brewer brought

former New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman to the Back Bay for a

fundraiser. Brewer campaign manager James Vaughn said Wednesday he

doesn’t know how much money was raised, but about 70 people came.

She also announced her latest endorsements, which included Dana

Point Mayor Wayne Redfield and Councilwoman Lara Anderson, and the

Tustin Peace Officers Assn.

In an e-mail, Vaughn took a humorous jab at some of the

endorsements nabbed by state Sen. John Campbell, Brewer’s leading GOP

opponent.

“And I can tell you we’re devastated to see the endorsements of

officials from Cypress, Villa Park and Fountain Valley. We know how

much influence they have over the voters of this district. We hope to

counter soon with the endorsements of officials from Needles, Modesto

and Cucamonga,” Vaughn wrote.

Campbell’s most recent endorsements include the Orange County

Young Republicans and the House Conservatives Fund, a political

action committee that supports conservative candidates. He’s also

been endorsed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and GOP fundraising

groups the Lincoln Club and the New Majority.

The special primary for the 48th District seat is set for Oct. 4.

State, El Morro ready to deal?

In the midst of a still-unresolved court battle, the state parks

department and residents of El Morro Village mobile-home park are

talking turkey. The two sides have been in negotiations for about 30

days, but no agreement has been reached so far, said Richard

Rozzelle, acting superintendent for state parks’ Orange Coast

district.

Residents have been fighting eviction from the mobile-home park,

which is in Crystal Cove State Park. The state parks department wants

residents out so it can put a public campground where the mobile

homes are.

“We’re in discussions with them, but we are also pursuing our

rights in court through the eviction process,” Rozzelle said. “Our

goal is to gain control of the property and move forward with the

public’s vision as soon as possible.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

[email protected].