Two incumbent councilmen kept their seats, the city’s 18-year treasurer was turned out of office, and the more temperate of two tax-raising measures was approved, as Hermosa voters charted a course for the near future.
The status quo was shaken vigorously by David Cohn, who thumped longtime Treasurer John Workman by a 14 percent margin.
“I see [the vote] as a mandate to dig in. It wasn’t exactly a close election. Let’s dig into the financial affairs of the city. We’ve got $10 million worth of sewers to repair – where are we going to get the money to do that,” Cohn said at an election night party at his Sixth Street home.
“I wish Mr. Workman well,” Cohn said. “He has served the city well. It’s just time for a change.”
During the campaign, Cohn, managing director of Diamond Capital Partners, criticized Workman for getting lower yields on the city’s investments compared to neighboring cities. He said he will make $300,000 a year more than Workman did with an investment portfolio that fluctuates between about $16 million and $24 million.
“That was my campaign mantra – how are we investing our money? That was my main war cry,” Cohn said. “We are low on the totem pole, and we’ve got to get up to the level of the other cities.”
Cohn amassed the largest campaign war chest in 2011, with $25,400, all but $400 which he loaned his own campaign, according to the most recent statements on file at City Hall. Workman raised $10,000, all of it in a loan by him to his own campaign.
Campaign’s origin
Former Councilman Michael Keegan, an active supporter of Cohn, traced Cohn’s entry into the treasurer’s race to City Hall watchdog Howard Longacre, although Longacre said Keegan was exaggerating.
Keegan said Longacre asked him to run once again for a council seat and Keegan declined. Then Longacre told him that someone should challenge Workman, whom Longacre described as under-performing.
Keegan said he looked into Workman’s investment performance and was “appalled.” Then he contacted Cohn, who he had come to know as a regular customer at Keegan’s Manhattan Bread & Bagel. Cohn looked into Workman’s performance as well, and determined to run for office, Keegan said.
“If they’re trying to dump this on me that we have a new treasurer, they’re crazy,” Longacre said.
He pointed out that he has criticized Workman in letters to the editor of Easy Reader, and said Keegan called him about the treasurer’s position. He said he urged Keegan to run for a council seat, and perhaps to run for the treasurer’s post as well.
“I always suggest everybody run for council, and I may have said to Keegan, ‘Have you considered running for treasurer?’” Longacre said.
Longacre also said that Keegan might have told him in the conversation, ‘I have somebody that might want to run for treasurer,’ and Longacre passed along his encouragement, “if he has the qualifications.”
“I have no inside connections to anyone in this city,” Longacre said.
Cohn said that Keegan asked him to challenge Workman, in a conversation in late July or early August, prompting Cohn to make a detailed study of Workman’s performance.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Cohn said.
“I studied other cities, I interviewed two other treasurers, and it wasn’t until after I did that, that I decided to run. I did my homework,” he said.
Cohn said he talked to the treasurers of Manhattan Beach and Beverly Hills, because he was impressed by their investment record and the organized, professional way their operations were run.
Cohn also stressed his independence as a candidate.
“I have my own sea legs here. I appreciate Michael Keegan calling it to my attention, but that’s as far as it goes. I don’t want the story to look like there’s anyone behind me, because there’s not,” Cohn said. “Keegan was instrumental in introducing the idea of me running. I don’t know about the other stories [of Longacre talking to Keegan]. I had my attention drawn to the poor performance of our treasurer, and that’s what got me going.”
Incumbents returned
The race for two city council seats was won by incumbents Michael DiVirgilio, with 29 percent of the vote, and Peter Tucker, with 28 percent. Newcomer Hany Fangary ran a strong third with 23 percent of the vote, followed by Steve Powers with 19 percent.
The final results showed a packed field, with only 10 percentage points separating the four candidates.
DiVirgilio said his message of thoughtfulness and fairness resonated with voters.
“One of the things that has become my hallmark, and I talked increasingly about it as the campaign progressed, is that on every issue I will give everyone a fair shake,” he said. “The homework will be done, the issue will be thought through, the consequences and the unintended consequences will be considered, and I’m going to be fair to folks.”
DiVirgilio said he was “surprised” that the challengers finished as close as they did to the incumbents.
“I thought there would be a bigger gap there,” he said.
“I’d like to congratulate Peter on winning his third term. That’s really impressive,” said DiVirgilio, who won a second term. “And I’d like to congratulate and thank Mr. Powers and Mr. Fangary for devoting so much time to make the community better.”
During the campaign, DiVirgilio said he helped systematize the repair of city streets, reinstitute meetings of a liaison committee between City Hall and the city school board, and helped spearhead Project Forward to heal a rift between school officials and residents.
DiVirgilio raised $9,700 from numerous contributors including former Manhattan Beach Councilwoman Portia Cohen, former Hermosa Treasurer Gary Brutsch, the Union Cattle Company restaurant, the locally owned Cleanstreet street cleaning company, Hermosa Cyclery, and Hermosans Carolyn Petty, Robert Aronoff, Christy Root and Eloise Butler.
“I feel that the voters say we’re on the right track,” said Tucker at an election night party at his house on the north part of town.
Tucker also rejected campaign assertions by Fangary that the City Council has not vigorously overseen a looming, $700 million lawsuit by Macpherson Oil Company and the potential rebuilding of the sprawling AES power plant just over theRedondo Beach city line.
During the campaign, Tucker stressed his role in the remake of upper Pier Avenue, Hermosa’s early adoption of a two-tier pension system, and a history of local volunteerism that made him the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce 2010 Man of the Year.
Tucker’s campaign raised $3,700, according to financial disclosure statements, with contributions from Cleanstreet, Hermosa Cylcery, Mayor Howard Fishman, former Councilman George Barks, Cantina Real owner Joline Blais, legendary waterman Paul Matthies, Hermosan Aronoff and Hermosa building contractors Dave Garrett, Gary Wells and Gilbert Irwin.
Fangary, who finished 4 and-a-half percentage points behind Tucker, congratulated the incumbents on their victories.
“They both ran a professional campaign, and I appreciate their willingness to serve our community, and their continued investment of their time to serve on the City Council for the next four years,” he said. “Mr. Powers ran a professional campaign as well, and I hope he continues to remain active in civic affairs in our city.”
Asked about the strength of his challenge to the incumbents, Fangary, a newcomer to elective politics, said voters were concerned about the council’s handling of the Macpherson case, which could drive the city into bankruptcy, a “downtown bar scene which is getting out of control,” the financial condition of city schools, street and sewer repairs, and the future of the AES plant.
He said he plans to remain active in civic affairs including the AES issue.
Fangary and other Hermosans have sued the city seeking stricter regulations on tattoo parlors, which have sprouted in town after an appeals court struck down a citywide ban, but his opponents barely touched on the lawsuit in a series of campaign forums. A judge dismissed the major portions of the lawsuit a week before the election.
Fangary raised $15,400 for his campaign, all but $400 of it in a loan from himself.
Powers raised $11,100. He gave his own campaign $2,000, and received donations from supporters including a number of business executives and show business figures, including movie and TV producer David Katzenberg.
Tax battle
In the tilt between competing tax proposals, voters approved by 20 percentage points the City Council-backed Measure N, which aims to raise about $200,000 by increasing business license taxes on some busy nightspots, and imposing the taxes for the first time on some previously untaxed businesses.
Measure N also will lower taxes for many small businesses, and give a tax break to new businesses in their first year.
By a whopping 54 percentage points, voters rejected the Measure Q citizens initiative, which would have increased taxes on some nightspots so massively that it’s own author, activist Jim Lissner, wound up repudiating the measure.
Hermosa Beach had not increased any of its business license taxes in 23 years.
Also on the ballot, longtime City Clerk Elaine Doerfling won reelection unopposed, and Bill Beverly won reelection to his South Bay seat on the El Camino College governing board.
