Fair Fight in Lake Forest Yields a First

It was simply a matter of fairness.

In Lake Forest, four of the five City Council members had taken an annual turn as mayor, by council vote. Only Kathryn McCullough had been passed over--four times.

They wouldn’t even let her have the ceremonial post of mayor pro tem.

But Tuesday night, after considerable public pressure--and a boost from a county supervisor--that changed. McCullough became Orange County’s first black mayor.

It was Councilwoman Helen Wilson who finally realized what the other two in the three-person majority still fail to see. Their stubbornness was dividing the city and leaving an unnecessary stigma.

It was a contentious session. The council majority rapped McCullough’s knuckles as if she was a schoolchild over her leadership style and harangued the media for raising the race question.

On her style, no doubt McCullough is different. As shown Tuesday night, she talks loudly, she’s highly opinionated, she rambles on too much, she uses Scripture for exclamation points, and her finger-wagging infuriates her opponents.

But she was popular enough with voters to get elected twice. Her resume of public service is impressive; she has run a nonprofit food bank for 30 years and serves on numerous boards. And a whole room full of supporters didn’t find her leadership style so god-awful.

As for the media, they simply reflected community anger: You’ve got one black council member and four whites, and the black is told she just isn’t good enough; you have to wonder what impression that leaves with black voters and other McCullough supporters. Councilwoman Marcia Rudolph was one of several people last year who raised the race question.

Councilman Peter Herzog didn’t help dispel the race issue any by talking about how he’d helped McCullough out of her chair on occasion and once even carried her bags at the airport. That brought the scoffs from the audience it deserved.

Richard T. Dixon, the outgoing mayor who was running again, tried to downplay McCullough’s support by making it appear as if those who spoke on her behalf were the same small bunch that always showed up.

Hardly. Councilwoman Judy Inman of Inglewood, a former Lake Forest resident, drove 50 miles to speak up for McCullough. As the lone woman on her council, she said, she knows what it’s like to be the minority passed over for appointment.

And then there was Supervisor Todd Spitzer. He was appearing at Tuesday’s session on other business, related to the county’s jail issue. But he took time to say McCullough was his choice for mayor. In fact, Spitzer said, she’s his choice for district Woman of the Year.

Missing the Point

What Mayor Dixon failed to note was that most in the packed chambers were McCullough supporters. And no one took the microphone to advocate keeping him in the job.

Wilson got in her own slaps at McCullough. She found it disrespectful that McCullough used facial gestures when her critics talked. Interestingly, Dixon did the same thing when McCullough spoke--turning to Wilson at one point and calling McCullough a liar.

Sometimes the arguments got petty. Dixon chided McCullough for addressing Wilson as “Mrs. Wilson” instead of “Councilwoman Wilson.” But Dixon forgot that just moments before, he had referred to McCullough as “Kathy.”

The council’s majority of three all made the same points: McCullough’s confrontational style would not be best for city progress, she didn’t follow up on ideas, and she didn’t say the same thing in public that she promised in private. You can bet McCullough disputed all of that, and with vigor.

“I’m not going to change who I am for any title,” she said defiantly.

To me, the council majority had been missing the point. The mayor’s job isn’t brain surgery. The mayor isn’t the city manager or the police chief. The mayor is just the person who chairs the meetings and represents the city in public appearances. (I’m betting McCullough will be an ace at that, because it’s almost impossible not to like her.)

She deserved the job, simply out of fairness.

Which Wilson came to see.

Everyone expected the bloc to stick with Dixon, who had been mayor for three terms. But Wilson had a secret: She had decided that afternoon, well before Spitzer and the others spoke, that she was going to change her vote.

As council meetings go, there was more than a little drama. After a bitter speech denouncing her opponents, McCullough stormed out. Her supporters thought it was in protest. Nope. She just desperately needed a bathroom. So the council took a short break.

When the meeting resumed, the vote moved so quickly that many in the room weren’t even sure who had switched.

But Wilson had given herself away. During her critique of McCullough, she had said she was willing to rise above their differences if it was best for the city. You knew then that she was about to take the high road.

Later, when asked if she thought McCullough would do a good job as mayor, Wilson replied, “We’ll see.”

Wilson had wanted to vote against McCullough again. But she’d spent a great deal of time before the meeting talking with others around the city.

“I hate being called a racist; it’s totally unfair,” she said. “But until we appoint her as mayor, we’ll never be able to put this behind us. We’ve done it; now we can move on for the good of the city.”

McCullough could only say, “I’m shocked; I didn’t expect this. I’m shocked.” Her first act as mayor: entertaining a motion to choose a mayor pro tem. Wilson won unanimously.

The first hug McCullough got after getting the job came from Dixon. Maybe this bunch will find a way to all get along after all.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Monday and Thursday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling (714) 966-7789 or by e-mail at jerry.hicks@latimes.com.