By Scott Wong

outburst

Five candidates vying for two vacant Los Altos Hills City Council seats in next month’s general elections squared off in a Candidates Forum Oct. 16. They fielded questions on issues ranging from high-speed Internet connections to water conservation.

But some candidates, calling for new leadership, failed to drown out the voice of one outgoing incumbent who, after the event, allegedly lambasted organizers for their management of the forum.

Councilwoman Toni Casey returned to council chambers approximately 20 minutes after the debate and yelled at three women, including Los Altos-Mountain View League of Women Voters Co-presidents Mary Nichols and Jane Turnbull, for sponsoring a presentation by the local water district before the debate, according to witnesses.

Resident John Dukes remarked, “I seriously considered calling the police when I happened across Toni gesticulating wildly and shouting at the women volunteers at the candidates’ night debate.”

Casey, who is not seeking re-election, said she can’t wait until Nov. 5 when her term ends. She called the water board presentation “inappropriate” and the charges that she accosted LWV volunteers “unadulterated baloney.”

“I was talking in a very firm voice to the League of Women Voters (representative),” Casey said. “I had very strong and firm words.”

Casey said she took issue with the presentation, not listed on the forum’s agenda, cutting into 20 minutes of the residents’ hour-and-a-half question and answer time with candidates and addressing items from closed-door real estate negotiations with council.

“The council is having closed sessions negotiating a real estate transaction,” she said. “For them to take the substance of that in a public forum and try to lobby the audience and the

five people running for city council is just inappropriate.”

In his presentation, Purissima Hills Water District Director Daniel Seidel asked candidates to offer solutions to town water overuse and the probable displacement of the water district, whose offices face demolition under the $4.9 million council-approved construction plans for the new town hall. He said council has not met the water district halfway.

“We have made overtures to the council on three occasions to sit down with them and work out a mutually agreeable plan, but that hasn’t occurred,” Seidel said in a phone interview. “There hasn’t been much communication.”

Casey refuted Seidel’s claims and said various city officials have met with the water board on numerous occasions.

Although she can’t make up for lost debate time, Casey said she can take measures to prevent it from happening again.

“We will never let [LWV] do this again,” the councilwoman said. “They violated the agenda and will be restricted from using our town hall without much more scrutiny.”

In contrast, in what many residents described as a “civil” and “healthy” debate, candidates were challenged by residents to clarify their platform and differentiate themselves from others on issues such as pathways, open space, cellular phone towers and the construction of the new town hall.

Candidates for the Nov. 5 election are Breene Kerr, Steve Hubbell, Dean Warshawsky, Bill Kerns and Janet Vitu. Kerns and Vitu currently serve on the LAH Planning Commission.

Kerr, 50, a high-tech marketing executive, said residents have charged the current council with turning a deaf ear.

“Many of you have waited at meetings until 9, 10, 11 o’clock at night to have your concerns not listened to,” he said. “I’ll listen.”

Warshawsky, 33, a technology sales representative, echoed Kerr and said a “fresh approach” to leadership is exactly what Los Altos Hills needs.

“Our town has a voice,” he said. “We need a town council that listens.”

Meanwhile, Kerns, 47, an engineering manager, said he does not want all of the progressive changes made on council in the past to be thrown away.

“Many feel that council is just pushing things through,” he said. “I agree with some of those charges, but I feel that a fresh approach is not the solution.”

Vitu, 41, an executive magazine publisher, said she wants to explore alternative ways for residents to get involved with government, aside from council meetings.

“We need to look at ways people can participate either by e-mail, by phone or by fax,” she said.

Hubbell, 51, an engineer and manager, kidded that he’s running for council on the platform of “boring government” - one without drama, controversy or fancy mailings.

“I want to see town government be boring again,” Hubbell said. “You won’t see any fliers from me.”

Hubbell may not be the only one tiring of recent council theatrics.

After the Casey outburst, some residents apologized to the organizers but told the LWV leaders: “We’re used to this in Los Altos Hills.”

“They suggested that her (Casey’s) behavior had been common over the last several years and this was a chance for others to view it as well,” Turnbull said.

A Mountain View resident, Nichols said Casey “was a couple degrees beyond what I thought was appropriate.”

The LWV, a nonpartisan political organization which encourages citizens’ participation in government, is respected locally as well as nationally, according to Nichols.

“We try to avoid confrontation like what happened (after the debate),” she said. “But I think it’s good that people express themselves. I think it probably follows through with the American way.”