Here today, Nichols may be gone tomorrow

One of the few truths about politics: It changes fast.

As I write this on Wednesday afternoon, Newport Beach Councilman

Dick Nichols is in a hospital room, being treated for a serious

infection in his leg.

And he’s taking a few more phone calls than he likely was

expecting.

Those calls, of course, as the story on the front of today’s Daily

Pilot tells, are about a comment Nichols made to the paper earlier

this week and ran in Wednesday’s Pilot.

“With grass, we usually get Mexicans coming in there early in the

morning, and they claim it as theirs, and it becomes their personal,

private grounds all day,” Nichols said about improvements being

proposed for Corona del Mar State Beach.

It was just one comment Nichols made about the improvements, but

when a public figure says something so racially charged (there are

those who don’t see this as racially charged, of course) it becomes

news.

Just ask Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi. His fall from the Senate

majority leader’s office late last year because of comments he made

suggesting the country would have been better off had the

Segregationist “Dixicrats” won the presidency in 1948 certainly

suggests that Nichols may not be long for the council dais.

At first, it looked like Lott, a Republican, would weather the

storm, which was being blown mainly by the left and Democrats. But as

it lasted, stubbornly refusing to go away, more and more people from

Lott’s own party began to attack what he has said, and his core

support faded.

And then that support withered totally when President George W.

Bush refused to offer his backing. (In contrast, when Pennsylvania

Sen. Rick Santorum made comments earlier this year that were

offensive to gays, Bush offered support, and Santorum survived mostly

unscathed.)

The question here, though, is: Does Nichols have that kind of

make-or-break support?

Given Mayor Steve Bromberg’s comments in today’s paper, it is

obvious that Nichols will not be getting support from his council

colleagues. But glancing at just the past few weeks, it is clear that

his support was never going to come from there. (And is it not

incredible that only a week ago the Newport Beach City Council was

debating Nichols’ comments before the Planning Commission? Will

Tuesday’s council meeting again center on Nichols’ words?)

Will Nichols get that needed support from the Greenlight group,

which backed him during the fall election? So far, Greenlight

spokesman Phil Arst has distanced the group from the “Mexican”

comment, but not from the man. If that changes, the councilman will

be left with few friends in Newport’s political circles.

And why would the group’s position change? One reason: the

residents of Newport Beach. If they recoil from these comments, it is

difficult to imagine the Greenlighters sticking by Nichols,

regardless of how comfortable they are being a political firebrand in

the city. If residents don’t react, Greenlight will be able to

continue backing him.

It is also possible that Nichols will continue to defend what he

said and refuse any calls to step down. Then, the story will be

whether there is the political will to get a recall effort going.

If there is, we might be subbing Gov. Gray Davis’ name for Lott’s.

It all depends on how fast the politics of this go. There’s really

no telling where Nichols may be today, tomorrow or next week.

* S.J. CAHN is the managing editor. He can be reached at (949)

574-4233 or by e-mail at s.j.cahn@latimes.com.