CARLSBAD: Six candidates seek two council spots

By BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer | Saturday, November 1, 2008 6:37 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- A rare open seat is up for grabs on Carlsbad's City Council, and it's attracting plenty of political attention and record-setting campaign spending.

Several of the six people running for City Council in Tuesday's election started their campaigns last fall. They formed campaign committees months before such planning typically take place in Carlsbad races.

By late October, two candidates had already spent more than $60,000 ---- easily double what some winning candidates have spent in past Carlsbad elections. The record for campaign spending in the city was set two years ago by Mayor Bud Lewis, who dropped $65,000 on his re-election bid. That record is sure to be shattered this year.

Several key issues are helping drive interest in the campaign, including the city's costly pension system, and controversial plans to expand Carlsbad's auto mall.

There are two council seats up for election. One is held by incumbent Ann Kulchin, who has served for 28 years on the council. The other is held by Julie Nygaard, who was appointed to her spot and has decided not to run for election.

Here is a look at the six candidates.

-- Thomas K. Arnold, 50, is the editor/publisher of Home Media Magazine and a home entertainment writer for the Hollywood Reporter. He has said it's time to bring an outsider into City Hall, and has argued that the city needs to do a better job of managing its financial affairs, particularly the costly municipal golf course. He has spent about $20,000 on his campaign.

-- Glenn R. Bernard, 56, is a former Marine who has worked as a real estate agent and is the inventor of a soccer-golf game. A maverick who believes government in general should be greatly downsized, Bernard is known for his unusual campaign positions. He has argued that all new hires or promoted employees at City Hall should be required to show proof that they have owned a U.S.-made vehicle for at least two years. He has vowed to spend less than $1,000 on his campaign.

-- Keith Blackburn, 48, is a Carlsbad police sergeant who has worked for the city for two decades. He also runs a family nonprofit foundation and property management company. He said he plans to retire from his city job in January, and that his police work combined with his business experience give him a unique perspective that would help him as a council member. At recent candidate forums, he has supported renovating the Westfield shopping mall and suggested that the city's traffic light systems could be improved. He has spent about $90,000 on his campaign.

-- Farrah Douglas, 60, is a city planning commissioner who co-owns a print shop. A former Chamber of Commerce leader, Douglas has said her two decades as a business owner and her experience with the chamber will help her as a councilwoman. She has said she wants to diversify the city's tax base and bring in more environmentally friendly businesses. She has spent about $60,000 on her campaign.

-- Ann Kulchin, 76, is a seven-term incumbent and former teacher. Known for her interest in coastal issues, Kulchin has emphasized her 28 years of experience as a council member and her many endorsements from local and regional elected officials. She supports a proposed desalination plant and said the Encina Power Station should not build a second power plant on its coastal property. She has spent about $30,000 on her campaign.

--- Evan Delaney Rodgers, 19, is a Cal State San Marcos student. She has made getting the long proposed Alga Norte swim complex her top priority. Diagnosed with autism as a child, Rodgers has said the city's existing Monroe Street pool has helped her greatly and knows firsthand that the city needs a second swim facility. She has won praise for her extensive campaign Web site, which stresses that she is a "lean, green" campaigner who is refusing to spend more than $1,000 on her council bid.

Changing the city's pension system

Key campaign issues have included whether the city's costly pension system should be revamped.

Carlsbad and many other communities in the state started offering more generous pension plans to their firefighters and police officers after 9/11.

Later, those additional benefits were offered to all city employees. Now cities have started to realize how costly those benefits may be ---- in some cases doubling a city's annual pension expenses ---- and there's a movement to reduce them.

In Carlsbad, general city employees are eligible for a "3 percent at 60" plan, meaning that if they retire at age 60, they receive an annual pension equal to 3 percent of their highest yearly salary, multiplied by the number of years they were employed. Firefighters and police get the deal at age 50.

That means that an employee who worked 25 years for the city and whose highest salary was $75,000 would receive an annual benefit of $56,250.

There's been talk of creating a two-tiered system, which would leave the current benefit in place for existing employees but offer a reduced benefit for newcomers. What that benefit would be hasn't been established.

Blackburn, who stands to receive a city pension when he retires in January, has been less enthusiastic than the other candidates about changing the current system. Other candidates have accused him of having a bias in favor of the system because he stands to benefit from it. He has said he thinks the city should be careful about revamping the system, saying Carlsbad may lose its best and brightest new employees to other communities if it scraps its system before other communities do.

Arnold and Douglas have both said the system needs to be revamped. Kulchin has said she would consider looking into a two-tiered system, which would reduce future retirement benefits for new employees. Bernard has said city salaries alone are very high compared to what some local Marines at Camp Pendleton make.

Auto mall addition, airport expansion

When it comes to whether a luxury car dealership project should be allowed along Avenida Encinas west of Interstate 5, all three of the men in the race agree. They say the city's Planning Commission, which recently voted 4-3 against the proposal, made a mistake and should have considered the amount of sales tax revenue the project would generate.

Kulchin, the incumbent in the race, hasn't taken a position but has said the sales tax would be significant.

Douglas, the council candidate who currently serves on the Planning Commission, voted against the proposal, saying it wasn't an appropriate development to put near a large housing area. Rodgers has said she wouldn't like to live near it.

Regarding the airport runway expansion, Bernard was the only candidate of the six who said at a recent forum that he was likely to be an enthusiastic supporter of such a project.

Arnold and Rodgers say they are against it. Kulchin has said that voters would need to authorize such a project. Blackburn said he wanted to see a proposal from the county, which owns the airport, before he would take a stance. Douglas also hasn't taken a position on the issue.