First Time in City History, Election is Canceled

For the first time in Loma Linda’s 42-year history, the city voted to cancel council elections because they did not have enough candidates.

Three seats were open and only three candidates filed to run. Council members Stan Brauer, Ron Daily and Phill Dupper voted unanimously to cancel the election, set for June 5. Mayor Rhodes Rigsby and Mayor Pro-Tem Ovidiu Popescu recused themselves, as it was their council seats that were being discussed.

Instead, the city will reappoint the incumbents and appoint Dr. John Lenart, a member of the Loma Linda Planning Commission, to the seat currently held by Brauer, who opted not to run.

“The financial impact is that, by not having an election, the city will save possibly $10,000,” said Loma Linda City Manager T. Jarb Thaipejr. The savings would be a great benefit for the city that has had to cut $1 million from its budget due to the loss of the Redevelopment Agency.

While it might be financially beneficial, Daily said he felt ambivalent about the cancelation.

“In my mind, a democracy that is active and vibrant and robust requires debate,” Daily said. “So I have ambivalent feelings.”

Perhaps no one else filed because residents feel satisfied with their leaders and have few questions. Daily said another, more worrisome, interpretation could be that “this represents serious apathy in the citizens of Loma Linda regarding the issues that are in front of us; everything from development to RDA to McDonald’s to all the other issues. If we’re looking at a situation in which apathy is prevailing, that’s of significant concern to me.”

Speakers Dick Wylie and Fred Ramos noted how few people come out to council meetings. The men were two of seven people in attendance, two of whom were members of the press.

Wylie said the low numbers of people voting in local elections frustrated him.

“I agree with what you’ve come up with,” Wylie said. “We don’t have enough people (in the race). The thing that troubles me more than that is when you look at the election and a few of these issues in this town, we’ve had less than 50 percent, sometimes far less than that, come out to that.”

“This gets frightening to me,” Wylie said. “This is not just Loma Linda, this is across the country. And I think the problem is basically politics has to inner fighting. We haven’t had it on this council. We had it at the end of last council. And I think it soured to many people.”

Rigsby, Popescu and Lenart are expected to be sworn in July 10.