Mansoor declares seat bid

Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor will run for a seat in the state legislature in 2010 and plans to formally announce his candidacy in the next few days, he told the Pilot on Wednesday.

Rumors have been circulating that he had his eye on the assembly seat held by fellow Republican Van Tran since before November’s election, but in the past week or so he kicked his campaign into gear by hiring a treasurer and a consultant so that he can begin lining up endorsements and campaign funds.

After serving three consecutive terms as an assemblyman, Tran will be termed out in 2010. The same is the case with Mansoor, who is in the middle of his second term on the City Council and would not be eligible to run again in 2010.

Mansoor sees a few of the big issues that have defined his legacy on the Costa Mesa City Council as microcosms of the state’s issues, specifically budgetary policy and immigration.

Tuesday night he presided over the issuance of layoff notices to city employees along with a proposal to cut salaries and benefits of city workers to deal with a projected $19-million budget deficit despite protests from the unions that represent the city’s employers and Democratic Councilwoman Katrina Foley.

Although those cuts were hard to make, Mansoor said, it would have been imprudent to dip further into the city’s dwindling reserves to make up the difference. He criticized the mostly Democratic state government for failing to cut more spending and instead relying on borrowing and tax increases to balance the budget.

“I think in Costa Mesa last night we showed that we have to make difficult decisions, but they’re responsible,” Mansoor said.

He hopes that the initiatives on May’s special election ballot to enact the state legislature’s budget solutions are defeated by voters.

Tran says it’s too early to make an endorsement in the field of candidates running for his seat. He has heard rumors that Westminster Councilman Andy Quach, Garden Grove Councilman Andrew Do and Stanton Republican activist Steve Sarkis may run; he says there may be more before election season begins.

“Allan of course would be a formidable candidate and a strong one given the fact that he’s the mayor of the largest city in the 68th District,” Tran said. “I’m friendly and supportive of his desire to run for state assembly but I have not formally endorsed anyone to replace me yet.”

With more than 100,000 residents, Costa Mesa has more voters in the 68th District than any other city. The district also has a large Vietnamese population, which Tran estimates to be about 18% of the electorate, and the three-term Vietnamese-born assemblyman’s endorsement could prove an important one.

Another relevant statistic: Republicans have close to a 3-2 registration advantage in Costa Mesa. Nonetheless, the city was won by President Obama in November’s election and Tran’s assembly seat was the most closely contested in Orange County (he beat a relatively unknown Democratic challenger, Ken Arnold, who had little support or funding, by 8%).

Tran said that the 2008 election was an extraordinarily difficult one for all Republicans, but even then he did not doubt the safety of his seat and still thinks the district will vote for a Republican in 2010.

Mansoor has been a staunch anti-tax voice on the City Council, consistently refusing to put ballot initiatives before the voters that would increase the taxes paid by hotel guests in the city or the license fees paid by business owners. Both Costa Mesa assessments are among the lowest in the county, and several council members have said that raising them to the county average would raise much-needed revenues for the city.

A couple of years ago he entered the national spotlight as a spokesman for aggressive immigration enforcement measures including deputizing police officers as immigration agents. Although many in the city supported the idea, that proposal met with stiff opposition from residents and law enforcement officers who said immigration enforcement was a duty better left to federal agents and the idea was defeated.

Mansoor said illegal immigration will remain a big part of his platform and he will champion measures that would prevent the state from providing social services to illegal immigrants.

“People shouldn’t be here illegally and if they’re here illegally they shouldn’t be receiving our tax dollars,” he said.

As for Tran, he’s exploring his options for next year, and says that running for a state senate seat or a congressional seat are possibilities.

“There’s a lot of speculation and I have a lot of options,” Tran said.

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Reporter ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at [email protected].