Venezia: From toilet politics to the rarity: kindness and respect

Election time has been called the “silly season,” and it certainly is in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.

Take the ceramic toilets that recently popped up in front of Red-E-Rentals on Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa. Some of their lids bear Mayor Jim Righeimer’s name with a red circle and a line through it, and others show a thumbs-down, saying “flush the mayor.”

Red-E-Rentals President Tim Lewis says they’re not to be confused with the toilet display against the proposed charter amendment erected in July in front of Bengal Industries.

Lewis claims to have had the idea first but his wife cautioned him against it, saying the display might offend people.

He tells me his protest is a way of “acting up,” but he also has traditional campaign signs for candidates Katrina Foley and Jay Humphrey on display.

Aren’t signs enough of a political statement?

Not according to Lewis, and the toilets are proliferating.

He’s now willing to give them to others who want to put the anti-Riggy potties in their frontyards. So far he’s given away just one.

Will homeowners in this town take to toilet displays peppering neighborhoods?

He says the city has been taking pictures of his toilets and anticipates being contacted by code enforcement officials.

Speaking of bad taste, that’s what some are accusing Righeimer and Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger of after they showed up this week at a meet-and-greet for council candidates Foley and Humphrey and Orange County Water District board candidate Wendy Leece at the Greenleaf Mobile Home Park on the Westside of Costa Mesa.

Leece emailed me complaining, “I worked for several months with several residents of two parks to plan the event, and Jim and Steve were not invited.”

Leece said she will “no longer call them by their official titles” because of their behavior.

But Righeimer says he was invited by people who live in the park. The event was in a public place, and organizers were asking people to attend, so he saw no reason not to go.

Righeimer told me his presence at the event tempered the opposing side’s rhetoric about him, and I don’t doubt it. When talking you-know-what about people, it’s certainly harder when they’re right in front of you.

He recorded some of the event on his cellphone, which Foley and Leece objected to.

There’s enough silliness in this situation to go around.

Organizers should’ve been smart enough to realize that by holding an open public event they couldn’t control who would attend. The guys had as much right to be there as anyone, and in this heated political climate, it’s even sillier to understate the lengths to which your opponent will go to throw you off your game.

Was it in bad taste for Righeimer to show up?

That depends. This is Costa Mesa politics — where apparently taste has no place.

Questionable political behavior was prevalent in other cities this week too.

Bickering about endorsements between 74th District Assembly candidates Keith Curry and Matt Harper also made news.

After Curry, a Newport councilman, sent me a list of names that he claimed shouldn’t be on the endorsement page of Harper’s website — since some had endorsed Curry — I called both men.

I read emails that folks sent to Curry claiming they hadn’t endorsed Harper, the mayor of Huntington Beach.

Curry says it’s all about playing by the rules and not misleading voters.

Harper laughed when I posed the question about the endorsements, and defended them.

“Is this the kind of guy who is going to measure campaign signs in each city to make sure they comply with local codes?” Harper said of Curry. “You don’t win campaigns on technicalities.”

Harper said Curry is “just trying to distract him” from campaigning, since he had to call supporters to set the record straight.

“Keith Curry went around and harassed people on my list,” said Harper.

But is Harper distracting us because his endorsement page was sloppy?

Or is it the people endorsing these candidates who can’t keep their stories straight?

Some blame rests with the endorsers. As the Pilot reported, some people, including Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa), backed both men in the same race.

Meanwhile, one conflict didn’t make news, but maybe it should have because it’s a prime example of polite political discourse.

Rather than trade nasty words because they disagree on Measure Y, Newport’s proposed land use amendment, community advocate Jean Watt — leader of the No on Y effort — asked unopposed council District 1 candidate Diane Dixon, who supports it, to remove Watt’s name from her campaign literature. Watt had previously endorsed Dixon.

Calling it “just a difference of belief,” Watt tells me she had a “nice conversation” with Dixon about it and explained she was uncomfortable with Dixon using her name moving forward.

“I certainly admire and respect Jean,” Dixon said. “She is such a gracious woman, and when we talked about it, she wasn’t trying to change my position, and I wasn’t trying to change hers.”

Candidates in all races could take a lesson from these gals.

BARBARA VENEZIA, whose column appears Fridays, lives in Newport Beach. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com.