COSTA MESA UNPLUGGED:

That zephyr that just blew through here was 2007. It’s gone. Finis. Kaput. Years these days are like teenagers. They have no attention span, and they hang around just long enough to clear out the ice box and empty your wallet.

Sigh.

So as we send away the two-thousand and seventh year of our Lord to wherever it is consumed time ends up, we stop to noodle on what the next 12 months are likely to deliver to Costa Mesa’s front porch. From where we sit, we’ll sum up the coming year’s programming in one word: Politics.

I know. The excitement is too much, eh?

Three of Costa Mesa’s five city council thrones are in the election mix in 2008. We’ll guess the wagering on the outcome of the political battle will favor at least the retention of the current council majority; Mayor Allan Mansoor, Mayor Pro Tem Eric Bever and rookie Councilwoman Wendy Leece.

Of the three, only Bever’s seat is on the ballot, as are those of Councilwomen Katrina Foley and Linda Dixon. And when we say seat, we mean the chair they occupy.

Foley and Bever are already out in the tall grass hunting for campaign cash, so they’ll be in the battle. Bever likely won’t have any trouble locking down a second term.

Foley can anticipate that the city’s “Improver” movement (the voter bloc behind Mansoor, Bever and Leece) will shell her relentlessly — despite the majority it now has on the council — in a bid to further tighten its grip on the city’s tiller. But as the lead vote getter in the 2004 general election (15.8% of the tally), Foley is probably a lock if she pursues a bullet-voting strategy with her base.

One thing’s for sure; Foley won’t be aligning her campaign with the Return To Reason political action committee, the group of Costa Mesans who backed former Councilman Mike Scheafer and former Planning Commissioner Bruce Garlich in the 2006 election cycle. “I’m running on my own,” Foley said.

As for Return To Reason, Bill Turpit — a founding member of the group — writes that “we do not expect (the group) as an entity to be active in the 2008 election.”

An e-mail from Dixon tells us she hasn’t decided whether she’ll seek another term. And we felt stupid for asking. “Oh, Byron,” she fired back in response to our wondering, “the election is 11 months away.” Of the three, Dixon is the most vulnerable to being unseated, an indignity she’s experienced before.

That the election is 11 months off is not stopping former Parks and Recreation Commissioner and current Planning Commissioner Jim Fisler. In a Dec. 10 voice mail to Costa Mesa Unplugged, Fisler left word that he stopped in to the city’s clerk’s office to file his 501 (Candidate’s Intention Form). The paperwork clears the way for Fisler to jump into the political cash-raising scrum.

Also filing papers is former three-term councilman, mayor and current Costa Mesa Sanitary District Board Member Gary Monahan. Yet, Monahan sounds uncertain of another run despite telling others a few months earlier that he’d likely be in the game again in November 2008. “I’ve just got a lot going on right now,” Monahan told us.

As for Scheafer, he says he’s done with politics. “I have no plans to go through the process again,” he told us in an e-mail. “I am very concerned about the future of CM. But, I will do what I can through other means.”

Other prospective candidates still playing coy include Planning Commissioner Sam Clark. Clark pulled down 5% of the vote in the 2004 council race but sat out the 2006 contest. He says he’s thinking about another run, but won’t make a decision on pulling the trigger until he gets a lay of the other candidates who decide to make a go of it.

Planning Commissioner Jim Righeimer — a well-recognized name in the county and state GOP machinery — didn’t say he wouldn’t be running. But neither did he sound like he’s chomping to get into the fray. “I’m at a really good spot in my life with my family and my business,” he told us. Our take: He’s sounding like he’s got better things to do.

Were Righeimer to join the fray, however, he’d be a formidable candidate. A former candidate for the 68th Assembly District with strong ties to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and Orange County Republican Party Chief Scott Baugh, Righeimer could tap in to the same GOP campaign cash and organizational network that swept Mansoor into office.

Chris Bunyan — who burst upon the Costa Mesa political scene in 2006 and captured 3% of the vote — says he’s giving a second run “very thoughtful consideration.” Bunyan impressed during the last campaign and emerged as the voice of Costa Mesa’s younger demographic.

Just 314 days to go.

BYRON DE ARAKAL is a former Costa Mesa Parks and Recreation Commissioner. Readers can reach him at [email protected].