Lake Forest Council Elects O.C.’s First Black Mayor

Veteran Councilwoman Kathryn McCullough was elected mayor of Lake Forest on Tuesday, ending a years-long conflict in which a divided City Council had passed her over amid allegations of racism.

McCullough, who has been on the City Council since 1994, was the only member who had not been mayor. This was her fifth nomination to be mayor.

Councilwoman Helen Wilson, who has said in the past she would not support McCullough for the largely ceremonial post because she did not consider her up to the job, cast the deciding vote for McCullough.

“We are not a city divided by race,” she said. “We are not a council divided by race, and I wanted to put that issue to rest.”

Councilmen Richard T. Dixon and Peter Herzog, who voted against McCullough, said earlier that they could not support her but have adamantly denied any suggestion of racism on their part.

McCullough is the first black council member elected in Orange County and now is its first black mayor. In years past, some McCullough supporters have said the council majority’s exclusion of her appeared to be racist.

Tuesday’s meeting drew a number of people to speak in support of McCullough, among them Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer and Judy Dunlap, an Inglewood City Councilwoman who lived in Lake Forest for 10 years.

“As the only white official in my city, I too have been subjected to the same thing as Mrs. McCullough,” Dunlap said. “You are elected to serve, you are not here to rule. The thing for you to do is share the role of chair.”

Councilwoman Marcia Rudolph, who nominated McCullough, said after the vote, “God bless Todd Spitzer, and God bless our friend from Inglewood. The people are the ones who won tonight.”

McCullough left the meeting immediately after the vote, which was the last item of council business. “I’m just shocked,” she said. “Now I have to catch a plane.”

Lake Forest is a general law city, which means in part that its mayor is elected by council colleagues rather than directly by the public.

McCullough, an ordained minister, was recently chosen by mayors, city council members and city managers across the state to serve on the League of California Cities Board of Directors. She also is on several local, state and national panels, has run a nonprofit food bank for more than 30 years and was among leaders of the drive to make Lake Forest a city in 1991.