Janet Nguyen Replacement Attempts Deadlock

I queried Garden Grove Mayor Pro Tempore Mark Rosen on how things went last night with the city council's attempts to appoint a replacement for new-Supervisor Janet Nguyen.

According to Mark, twelve people spoke and expressed their desire be appointed to the vacancy. Councilwoman Dina Nguyen, who has expressed support for filling the vacancy via special election rather than appointment, made a motion to postpone any decision until after the council's upcoming Korea trip. That motion was defeated.

Councilman Bruce Broadwater nominated Steve Jones, who is currently a Garden Grove Planning Commissioner. That went down to defeat on a 2-2 vote: Broadwater and Nguyen in favor of Jones, Mark Rosen and Mayor Bill Dalton against.

Mark Rosen nominated Kris Beard, a current Garden Grove Neighborhood Improvement and Conservation Commissioner. Beard's nomination was defeated on a 2-2 vote: Rosen and Dalton for, Broadwater and Nguyen against.

Dina Nguyen nominated Kay Barr. Barr has been an OC Water District Director since 1979, and served on the Garden Grove City Council from 1962-1970 and again from 1974-1978. According to Mark Rosen, Kay Barr has the distinction of having defeated Mark Leyes, John Bankston, and Trung Nguyen (by more than 3 votes) in their efforts to try to take the water board seat away from her.

In any case, Barr's nomination was defeated on another 2-2 vote: Nguyen and Dalton for, Rosen and Broadwater against.

The council then voted to postpone further attempts to fill the vacancy until April 16.
I think the council has until April 26 to fill the vacancy.

I'll keep you posted.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that former Councilman Harry Krebs has also expressed his interest in being appointed to the vacancy in an e-mail to Mayor Bill Dalton. Kreb's first ascended to the Garden Grove Council via appointment, and was defeated last November when he stood for election in his own right.  I don't think that bodes well for snagging a second appointment.

Comments

[Chris Prevatt]

Just curious, can anyone explain how the Garden Grove City Council got around the Brown Act to hold their special meetng on two days notice?

I presume they declared it an emergency, but I cannot figure how filling a Council vacancy is in any way an emergency, since they would be holding a regular scheduled meeting before the deadline.

I guess it was a good thing they did not reach agreement. I can only imagine the law suits that would be filed to challenge their decision at a meeting not properly noticed.

[tylerh]

The Garden Grove city council is missing a major revenue source . They have all the makings of a great reality-TV show here, with the added twist that the loser gets voted on to the council.

[Jubal]

I believe they voted to do this at the previous council meeting.

[Mark Rosen]

We made an educated guess that Janet would win the lawsuit and there would be a vacancy, and agendized it for our Tuesday night meeting. On Tuesday, we recessed to Thursday.

Mark Rosen

[redperegrine]

Kay Barr was a counclimember in 1962? Great Scot! That was 45 years ago. That surely would have been a record. But she must be in her 80s.

[Chris Prevatt]

Mark and Matt,

Thanks for the clarification of the timeline. I have to say that ya'll did good then by planning ahead.

I hope the Council can come up with a consensus candidate. I really don't like the idea of another special election.

I do have a few names to throw into te mix, just for fun.

Mark Leyes
Big Al Snook
Tony Flores
Verla Lambert
Robin Mercurio
Mitch

Kay Barr was the first woman to ever serve on the GG City Council and the only female Mayor in GG history. Decades later, Janet became the second woman to serve on the GG Council.

Kay is very independent and answers to no special interests. She does not accept campaign contributions from anyone. She is truely a lady with class and integrity. Bruce and Mark need to do the right thing for the city.

Come on...Kay Barr, we need fresh ideas in Garden Grove, not a fossil who is not in tune with the future needs of a vibrant community. Let's not move back in time.

They should get Rocco to move into Garden Grove.

[A Step Up]

Rocco would be an improvement over Janet!

[wakeup]

In all fairness, Krebs wasn't really "defeated." He came in a close third out of a field of eight council candidates, and was not far behind Dina Nguyen and Bruce Broadwater. Krebs received nearly twice the number of votes as the candidate who came in fourth.

Any individual who believes Krebs is not the most logical choice in this scenario is A) seeking to intentionally disenfranchise more than 9,600 GG voters, B) not very bright, or C) all of the above.

[Publius]

RP-
In California the record for longest political comeback will always be held by the late Senator Ralph Dills (D-Gardena) who was first elected to the Assembly in 1938. Dills resigned from the Assebly in 1949 for a judicial appointment, then returned to the Senate from 1966 to 1998. He was forced out of the State Senate by term limits nearly 60 YEARS after first serving in the Assembly.

[Krebs Crapped Out]

Hey, WAKEUP, with two seats up for election, Krebs was the ONLY incumbent, and the only one with all the advantages of same. The guy STILL lost.

[Jubal]

Wakeup:

I don't know how losing isn't "really defeated." Losing is losing is losing -- and Krebs lost.

[wakeup]

A bombastic former mayor returns after a decade or so on the council--and running for supervisor, by the way--and he comes in second behind a newcomer named Nguyen and only about 3% ahead of a one-term incumbent.

A rather poor showing for Broadwater when you think about it.

[ggresident]

I was going to write a big thing here about how bad our City Council has been over the years, but I didn't know where to start. Garden Grove is a mess, and bringing back the "good old boys" is nothing more than continuing the mess. Watch a Council meeting. They look like the Keystone Cops...Don't count on them to pick anyone who thinks outside their little box. I decided it was a lost cause when Broadwater got re-elected.