City Council candidates trickle to the starting line

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Four candidates for City Council officially filed for the two-seat race, as of Tuesday afternoon.

Last week’s deadline was extended to Wednesday at 5 p.m. because there was an open seat vacated by Councilmember Tom Hasse, who decided not to run again.

The race began to pick up speed when Realtor Beverly Taki and retired executive John Wall decided to take the plunge. They joined Councilmember Sharon Barovsky and Planning Commissioner Andy Stern in the campaign as they officially sealed their candidacy intentions on Monday.

But the three-day extension also left the door of opportunity open for latecomer Robert Roy van de Hoek, who pulled his filing papers from City Hall on Monday. Van de Hoek has one-and-a-half days left to acquire the necessary signatures before he can officially enter the council campaign.

Van de Hoek decided to take action because he wanted to make sure the environmental community in Malibu is represented on the council.

As he waited for the city clerk at City Hall, Van de Hoek said, “The biggest principal is democracy.”

Two more council hopefuls had pulled their papers but changed their minds and dropped out by Friday.

Planning Commissioner Ted Vaill announced last week he would not run and John Mazza, Point Dume Homeowners Association president, backed out before the start of the council race as well.

Profiles of the candidates will be published in next week’s issue of The Malibu Times.