The Seaside City Council has filled the empty Ward 4 seat after a tumultuous two weeks of community debate, online and offline, about one of the candidates.
The Ward 4 seat has been vacant since the end of December after former City Councilor David Posalski moved away from the area. He championed regional hotel manager Brandon Kraft as his replacement.
But at a meeting earlier this month — where the Seaside City Council was expected to choose between Kraft and a second candidate, construction project manager Padraic Ansbro — Kraft faced accusations of homophobia and bigotry and questions about whether he was on a government watchlist.
The allegations stemmed in part from screenshots of past Facebook posts circulated by community members attributed to Kraft that they said expressed a far right ideology and from an interview Kraft gave with R.J. Marx, former editor of The Seaside Signal.
The council ended up split 3-3, between Kraft and Ansbro.
Kraft has denied the allegations against him. On Monday, he pushed back at City Councilors Seamus McVey and Heidi Hoffman, who voiced their concerns at the earlier city council meeting and, in Hoffman’s case, on Facebook, too. Kraft said McVey should consider resigning; Posalski, on Facebook, said McVey should face a recall.
Supporters for both Kraft and Ansbro attended Monday’s meeting, with some of Kraft’s supporters wearing matching shirts that read, “Netflix is my only watchlist.”
Mayor Steve Wright, seeing the City Council vote would split along the same lines again, switched his support from Kraft to Ansbro.
“But absolutely it is not a vote against Brandon Kraft, understand that,” Wright clarified, adding that he believed “the negative comments” could have been avoided at the last meeting.
Wright emphasized that the Ward 4 appointment is temporary. Ansbro will hold the seat through the end of 2026. But given the community engagement just around the appointment process, Wright predicted there could be a robust race for the seat in the fall.
Kraft has said he is considering running for election to the Ward 4 seat.
Ansbro thanked the City Council for the opportunity to fill the seat for now.
“I take this honor very, very seriously,” he told the city councilors, “and I hope to do and help create good things here for Seaside.”
The debate over the vacant seat put tensions among the other council members on display, including strong feelings about whether Facebook posts by Hoffman — against Kraft — and by City Council President Seth Morrisey — for Kraft and chastising McVey for comments made at the prior meeting — went against the City Council’s guidelines for elected officials.
Wright weighed in near the end of Monday’s meeting, urging the city councilors toward unity.
Wright walked through expectations of council members, including the need to be measured in their responses and respectful, to be clear if they are speaking for themselves out in the public or representing an official City Council position and to avoid personal remarks. He emphasized the need to work together for what’s best for the city and its operations.
Wright said issues between councilors, not just in regards to the Ward 4 appointment but also in other matters, “have painted us in a poor light.”
He declined to call anyone out by name, but said, “Please don’t automatically assume your position on an issue is the only correct one. This goes to everybody, including our new councilor. Don’t immediately condemn others when they disagree with your proposed course of action. That goes both ways.”
“Find common ground,” he added. “We can do better.”