Live Blog: Malibu City Council Campaign Begins

5:01 p.m. The nomination period has ended for today. The person who was thinking about coming to City Hall did not show. To review, Andy Lyon pulled papers this morning and says he plans to run; former Council member Joan House sent an email to Malibu Patch announcing her candidacy. 

Be sure to keep your web browser open at Malibu Patch all day tomorrow to see who decides to test the waters of the 2012 Malibu City Council race.

4 p.m. One hour remains today for potential council candidates to pick up their nomination papers from City Hall. One person emailed me that she might be coming here shortly before 5 p.m. Another wrote to say she plans to collect her papers tomorrow morning.

1:40 p.m. There could be two incumbents in this race. Incumbents in Malibu have done a pretty job getting re-elected.

Following the first council election in 1990, an incumbent has run for re-election 17 times, and they have won 13 times. Of the four losses, two occurred in 1992 ( and Mike Caggiano) and one happened in 1994 (Walt Keller). The last incumbent to lose was Jeff Jennings in 1998.

Incumbents who were eligible to run chose not to do so in 1996 (Jeff Kramer), 1998 (John Harlow), 2002 (Tom Hasse) and 2004 (Joan House). 

12:15 p.m. Joan House has not have been on the council for nearly eight years, but she has stayed connected to city politics as a member of the since 2006. She has also been involved in other people's council campaigns and headed the committee that organized .

She will be the second former council member to run after spending some years off the dais. Walt Keller did it in 1996 (successfully) and in 2004 (unsuccessfully).

House chose not to seek a fourth term in 2004. She told me that year when I was at  that she "would like to step back and reduce her involvement from local politics for a while."

House was the top vote-getter in the 1996 and 2000 elections.

11:31 a.m. Former Mayor Joan House just sent me an unsolicited email to announce she is running for City Council. It was a short email: "Hi, This is to confirm that I am running for City Council. Happy Holidays, Joan."

House served on the council from 1992 to 2004. Although term limits in Malibu restrict people to a maximum of two terms on the council, House is eligible for one more because the voter-approved rule did not go into effect until 2000 and all terms served prior to that year are not counted toward the total.

11:10 a.m. I have uploaded a very brief interview with potential council candidate Andy Lyon. He said the  and the plan for , both of which he opposes, gave him the motivation to run. Lyon has until Jan. 18 to submit nomination papers to City Hall with 20 signatures from registered Malibu voters.

When asked if he was serious about running, Lyon said, "I just filled out some papers in there, I'm not going to waste anybody's time."

9:40 a.m. Lyon remains in the office with . He is probably getting the rundown on all the rules and other information about running for council. I told him that I will have a few questions for him once he is done with his meeting. 

9:10 a.m. We have our first potential candidate. Malibu native and major Andy Lyon has entered City Hall to pick up his nomination papers.

8:07 a.m. All quiet so far. Nobody was waiting to charge into City Hall to pick up nomination papers in the opening minutes. Usually about three people pick up papers on the first day. 

The last council election, in 2010, included 10 candidates running for two seats. It was the first time since Malibu's initial council election that included no incumbents.

This year, there are three seats on the line. Two incumbents—John Sibert and Jefferson "Zuma Jay" Wagner"—could run. Council member Pamela Conley Ulich is not eligible to run due to term limits.

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The road to Election Day on April 10 begins today. Potential candidates can stop by (or send a representative) to pick up nomination papers.

I will be at City Hall during business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), sharing my observations as well as comments from the potential candidates and others on this live blog. Be sure to keep your web browser on Malibu Patch all day to get the scoop.

Malibu residents will elect three people to the council. Two incumbents—John Sibert and Jefferson "Zuma Jay" Wagner—are eligible to run and one—Pamela Conley Ulich—is not. She will be termed-out after serving eight years on the council. 

The incumbents have until Jan. 13 to return the nomination papers with at least 20 signatures of registered Malibu voters. Everybody else has a deadline of Jan. 18.

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