The Political Landscape:

An item that was originally placed on the consent calendar as routine business at the Newport Beach City Council meeting turned into an interesting discussion Tuesday night.

Item 3 on the agenda dealt with repealing Chapter 1.30 of the city’s municipal code. The chapter required that during an election, late campaign materials must be filed with the City Clerk in order to give candidates and opponents/proponents the chance to respond in the case of last-minute “hit pieces.” Any person found guilty of not filing with the clerk could face a $500 fine or jail time. Any candidate who was elected and later found guilty could be forced to forfeit his or her seat.

But the City Clerk said enforcement of the code is just about impossible — not to mention the law may be a violation of the constitution.

Oops.

City Atty. Robin Clauson advised the council to repeal the law, which had been in effect since 1990, because it may be a violation of the First Amendment — so the council repealed it. But former Councilman Dick Nichols argued that City Council members might be doing this to give themselves the opportunity to use “hit pieces” against their opponents.

To avoid being accused of doing so, Steve Rosansky — who is up for reelection — abstained from the vote so no one could use it against him. Right after that, Councilman Keith Curry — also up for reelection — followed suit and abstained.

Mayor Ed Selich — also running to keep his seat this year — then countered by saying, “I am also up for reelection this year, but I am going to vote anyway.” And he did.

Union says no to Republicans

The California Labor Federation announced its endorsements for state representatives Wednesday, and Debbie Cook and Steve Young, both Democratic challengers, made the list.

Cook is facing off with Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, and Young is battling Rep. John Campbell.

The endorsement comes from the 600 union leaders who represent millions of workers across the state.

But the endorsement was no surprise. Out of the 53 districts for U.S. representatives in Congress for California, no endorsements were made for any Republican.

Also, there weren’t any Republicans endorsed for any of the 39 California State Senate positions or in 80 races for California State Assembly.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com. DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.