Ex-Mayor of Carson Awarded Post Again : Politics: By a vote of 3 to 1 and against a background of intrigue, Michael Mitoma takes the post he was ousted from a year ago.

A year after being stripped of the title of Carson mayor, City Councilman Michael Mitoma on Tuesday was reelected to the post, which is considered a political prize among council factions.

The council, with little discussion, voted 3 to 1 to award Mitoma the largely ceremonial post.

The selection of a mayor in similarly sized cities is usually treated as a matter of routine, but intrigue characterizes the voting in Carson.

Councilwoman Sylvia Muise, who abstained from the vote, lashed out at what she called “back-room gyrations” that mark the process every year.

“I still wish the City Council would give consideration to another method, other than the method that has just been used” to select a mayor, Muise said. “I have heard the arguments from my colleagues. I also know what I have seen go on in the last several weeks.”

In an interview Wednesday, she said each of her four council colleagues engaged in vigorous behind-the-scenes politicking for the post.

“All of this ‘he said, she said, I’m gonna vote for him, next year I’ll vote for (someone else).’ . . . It’s the whole process I’m talking about,” Muise said.

Mitoma was the only council member nominated for mayor, a post that had been held by his longtime council rival Vera Robles DeWitt.

DeWitt cast the lone vote against Mitoma. Council members Juanita McDonald and Kay Calas backed Mitoma, who also voted for himself.

Calas has been a longtime ally of DeWitt, and her vote for Mitoma surprised some council insiders.

Mitoma said Wednesday that Calas approached him a month ago and asked if he would be interested in the position.

“I said, ‘OK, as long as I had support, and there wouldn’t be a blood bath in this.’ Kay and I have always been friends. She just wanted to exert her independence (from DeWitt).”

Calas did not return phone calls Wednesday.

Mitoma said the DeWitt-Calas relationship “will not be as strong as in the past because of this vote.”

The vote, Mitoma asserted, is evidence of further dwindling of support on the council for DeWitt, who a year ago had a solid three-vote bloc when she was elected mayor. McDonald, who nominated Mitoma on Tuesday, last year sided with DeWitt and Calas to strip Mitoma of the title.

At the time, Mitoma threatened to resign if McDonald joined DeWitt and Calas to form a consistent voting majority on the council. However, Mitoma on Wednesday said he knew it was a question of time before McDonald would split with DeWitt.

DeWitt “has a tendency, that if she helps you in an election, you have to rubber-stamp everything she puts up,” Mitoma said. “She was treating (McDonald) without any respect. The same thing happened to me.”

DeWitt downplayed Mitoma’s selection, saying, “It was not a big deal.”

She said she enjoyed her one-year stint as mayor and added, “I think without a doubt it was more harmonious than in years past.” She declined further comment.

McDonald was elected mayor pro tempore in a separate vote of 4 to 0, with Muise abstaining.

“I think we will all try hard to work together as a team,” McDonald told the council.