By Allison Jarrell | LB Indy
Longtime City Council member Toni Iseman announced this week that she’ll be running for another term at the dais, bringing the tally up to 11 potential council candidates on the ballot this November.
Iseman is the only resident in the city’s history (since 1927) that has served five consecutive terms—20 years—on the council. Iseman was first elected in 1998 and served as the city’s mayor four times in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2017.
Iseman told the Indy that she decided to run for re-election in part because of some big economic decisions coming in the next few years. She wants to continue representing the “desires of the residents” on the dais.
“It takes a while, to be on the council and know what’s going on,” Iseman said. “There are so many people running who don’t have that experience.”
Three seats are up for grabs on the council as the terms of Iseman, Mayor Pro Tem Rob Zur Schmiede and Mayor Kelly Boyd expire this year. Boyd’s seat will be open as he’s retiring from public life. Zur Schmiede filed his nomination papers with the City Clerk on Aug. 6.
Thus far, only two other candidates have filed their papers—nonprofit CEO and California Veterinary Medical Board member Judie Mancuso, and Lorene Laguna, a Laguna Canyon Conservancy board member.
Others who have pulled papers but have yet to file include Planning Commission member Sue Kempf, former council member and accountant Cheryl Kinsman, real estate agent Elizabeth Bates, gallerist Peter Blake, former council member Ann Christoph, artist Allison Mathews and financial manager Paul Merritt.
In the Laguna Beach Unified School District race, incumbent and retired elementary school teacher Dee Perry is running for another term. Attorney Christine de Bretteville is also officially in the running after qualifying for the ballot on Wednesday, Aug. 8.
Of the five-member school board, three terms are set to expire in November. At least one seat is open as board member Ketta Brown has said she will not seek a fourth term.
The filing deadline for local races is coming up on Aug. 15.
Anyone could win a seat on the single idea of Term Limits!