Winchell is back

Danette Goulet

After eight years away and two years of retired life, Grace Winchell

is back in action.

But just for the next 10 months, she says.

“It’s not like it’s a four-year commitment,” said Winchell, who last

Saturday was appointed to the City Council seat vacated when Dave

Garofalo resigned in December. “Enough people that I had a high regard

for asked me to [apply.]”

Winchell said she offered her application, after much urging, as an

alternative to the many political hopefuls looking to replace Garofalo,

who pleaded guilty to conflict of interest charges in a Santa Ana

courtroom last month.

“In order for democracy to work you have to participate and I didn’t

really have a good reason not to,” she said bluntly and with a laugh.

Winchell, 64, has lived in Huntington Beach for 33 years. She served

on the City Council for two consecutive terms from 1986 to 1994. Before

that she was on the city’s Planning Commission.

Two years ago, long after she thought she was done with her public

service, she retired from her position as the associate director of the

job center for international education at Cal State Long Beach, where she

worked for 15 years. She and her husband, Bob, who has also been very

active in the community, have three grown children.

Now after a series of 14 votes, she is back on the dais. The Saturday

morning vote in Huntington Beach Central Library drew a crowd of about 50

candidates, campaigners, city employees and council watchers.

The bidding began with a mere one vote for Winchell, two for Tom

Livengood and three for former Independent columnist Ron Davis.

After 11 identical votes divided between the three candidates, Mayor

Debbie Cook conceded her vote and gave it to Winchell. Council members

Pam Julien Houchen and Peter Green followed suit over the course of the

next three votes.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” Cook said when the tallying was done.

As to why she made the first move and changed to the Winchell camp

Cook said, “Because it was apparent that no one else was and Grace was

the compromise.”

Cook, who has been a supporter of Winchell’s in the past, said her not

wanting to run for the seat again in November was adrawback.

“I think that was a detraction,” Cook said. “But, she’s a known entity

and otherwise we would have had to go to an election and that would have

taken nine months, or however long, and it would have been very

expensive.”

Davis, who originally held the bulk of the votes with three council

members casting their initial ballots for him, said he was not at all

surprised by the outcome.

“Historically, I guess that’s the way it works -- the person with just

one or two votes to start wins because the person with three votes no one

budges on,” he said following the election Saturday morning.

Davis said he will not run for City Council come November. While he

feels he has a creative way to tackle issues, Davis said he had no

burning issues to warrant the time and effort of running for office.

Other applicants left, saying, see you in November.

* DANETTE GOULET is the assistant city editor. She can be reached at

(714) 965-7170 or by e-mail at o7 danette.goulet@latimes.comf7 .