Garden Grove Journal/From staff writers
Voters in Westminster voted to allow the sale of “safe and sane” fireworks in their city, and there were some electoral explosions in the city council race there as well.
In Garden Grove, incumbent mayor Bill Dalton easily defeated challenger Myke Cossota, and both incumbent city council members – Bruce Broadwater and Dina Nguyen – cruised to easy victories over their sole challenger, James Ybarra.
“I am happy with the results,” said Dalton. “I think they are a good indication that the people in Garden Grove believe I have done a good job.”
Bruce Broadwater said “The results are pretty much what I expected. The fellow running against me didn’t do much.”
The situation in Westminster was somewhat more complex. Incumbent mayor Margie Rice easily ran away from challengers Bruce Tran and Al Krippner, but in the city council race, incumbent Andy Quach was in fourth place in the early returns Tuesday night.
Another incumbent, Tri Ta, was easily winning re-election to his seat, but the battle for the second council position was tight among Khoa Do, Penny Loomer and Quach, all of which were within a few hundred votes.
But by 11:30 p.m., the race for the second seat settled into a battle between Loomer and Quach. At midnight, Loomer moved into first place, pushing Tri and Quach into second and third.
“I’m excited,” said Loomer Tuesday night. “I’ll be bringing my experience to the city council. I’m retired from [working for the] City of Westminster and I’ll be bringing my long-term experience with planning and budget-balancing.”
Ballot Measure AA, which would repeal Westminster’s long-standing ban on fireworks, was a landslide winner.
Westminster will become the sixth city in Orange County to allow the July 4 holiday enterprise, along with Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Stanton.
