This Won’t Be a Snap : Rams’ Center Mike McDonald Takes Run at Burbank Council

During his career with the Los Angeles Rams, Mike McDonald has been slammed in the head by the San Francisco 49ers’ 300-pound Michael Carter, flattened by the Dallas Cowboys’ 265-pound Randy White and mulched by the New York Jets’ 280-pound Joe Klecko. But nothing has prepared him for the abuse he is taking these days from 65-year-old school janitor Jules Kimmett and the Burbank City Council’s 50-year-old Mary Lou Howard.

McDonald, a center for the Rams, is among six candidates challenging incumbents Robert Bowne and Howard for council seats in the Feb. 24 municipal election. After four years at John Burroughs High School in Burbank, four more as a linebacker at USC and parts of three seasons with the Rams, McDonald probably figured an election would be rather easy.

He may have figured wrong.

For starters, he has banked heavily on name recognition by Burbank voters to help carry him to victory. Sort of a returning-hero campaign. Candidate Kimmett and Councilwoman Howard say that might be a mistake.

“To be honest, I never heard of him before he filed candidacy papers,” said Howard, whose one-year term as mayor ended last April. “As far as knowing anything about him, I really don’t. I don’t know if being a Los Angeles Rams football player is a negative thing or a positive thing. I just don’t know where he stands on any of the issues. He’s 28. That’s very young. And his campaign statement just didn’t say anything. He doesn’t mention the issues, and I don’t know if he even knows the issues facing Burbank.

“I’m not concerned with Mike McDonald or any other challenger. This is a great country. The democratic process says that anyone can run for public office. But I expect to be reelected.”

Kimmett, chairman of the two-member Concerned Citizens Committee of Burbank, has been the most vocal gadfly at many of the city’s meetings for many years. He failed in a bid for a council seat in 1985. His reaction to McDonald’s bid for one of the two city council seats bordered on non-belief.

“Big deal,” Kimmett said when asked about McDonald. “I never heard of him until now. Big deal. He played as a backup center for the Rams, and that was a case of outright nepotism between him and John Robinson. With all the specialized platooning in football today, anyone can play. Years ago, can you imagine having a player on an NFL roster who just snapped the ball for the kickers? It’s ridiculous.”

McDonald’s duties with the Rams this season were confined to snapping the ball on punts and field goals. Kimmett’s allegation of nepotism stemmed from the fact that McDonald played for Robinson, now the Rams’ coach, at USC and worked as an assistant coach at USC for Robinson for several seasons before being signed by the Rams in 1983. He has been signed and released several times since, and was serving as an assistant football coach at Burroughs High until Sept. 25 last year, when the Rams came calling again.

Many Burbank political observers think it is unlikely that anyone will unseat Howard or Bowne, especially a political novice like McDonald. Both incumbents are considered virtually unbeatable. But McDonald has this reply to those who figure he doesn’t have a chance: “Let ‘em talk. I’ve been in a lot of football games where we’ve been heavy underdogs, and many times we’ve kicked their ass. It can happen again here.”

McDonald’s father, Mike Sr., made an unsuccessful bid for a Burbank City Council seat in 1977. He received only about 600 votes. Those who beat the older McDonald in that election included Howard, who was taking her first step into politics. She also was not elected that year, but was successful in 1979.

Last fall, the father talked the son into making a run at the council.

“It was right after a big loss to the Miami Dolphins, and my father said, ‘This looks like as good a time as any. Let’s take a shot at it.’ I was feeling pretty bad about the game, but I decided he was right,” McDonald said.

“I’ve lived in Burbank for 22 years and now, with a wife and one child and another on the way, I know I’m going to live here for many more years. I was a football star here at Burroughs and then at USC. I have the name recognition already. I was all-everything at Burroughs and then got the scholarship to USC and now I play for the Rams. My name is already out, free of charge. My father told me he got about 600 votes when he ran. I told him, ‘Let’s see if we can get 700 votes this time.’

“I figured it was a good time. And with the Rams going into the playoffs, I figured I might get even more publicity.”

The publicity hasn’t exactly forced Lt. Col. Oliver North’s name off the front pages. A local newspaper, in a story announcing McDonald’s candidacy, ran the headline, “Rams No. 90 eyes political scrimmage.” Below the headline was a picture of McDonald in his Rams uniform--with the number 63.

McDonald earned a B.A. degree from USC in physical education in May, 1983, with a teaching credential geared towards special children. He has performed volunteer work in the community with handicapped children, and said he doesn’t see his lack of political experience as a factor in the race.

“I’m concerned about where Burbank is headed,” he said. “I can be good for the city. This place needs new blood, new ideas. Very few young people have ever run for office here, but we’ll be the ones living here over the next 10 and 20 years. This will be our city, and we should have some say in how it is run.

“I’m not a politician. I don’t know anything about politics. But I do know people.”

Despite the criticism from Howard and Kimmett, McDonald said he doesn’t anticipate any negative reaction during the campaign because he is a football player.

“If people get to know me, they’ll realize I’m not just a football player,” he said. “I have a college degree. I don’t think anyone who knows me thinks of me just as a football player. Most people look at me and say what a lucky guy I’ve been. I’m a guy who plays football, and who was able to use football to get an education.”

Despite his football income of more than $70,000 and being co-owner of a retail computer supply company, McDonald said he plans to run a bare-bones campaign, with little money but a lot of energy being spent.”

“We might fly a banner behind an airplane and we’ll print up some posters and we’ll get out some mailers, but mostly I’ll be knocking on doors and meeting people face to face,” he said. “It’s the only way to do it. I want to know what the people think, and to do that you have to meet them and see what’s bothering them.”

He said that with the exception of four weeks of training camp during the late summer, his job with the Rams would not interfere with his obligations to the city council. But he also has somewhat different ideas of how the city council should function. In an interview with another newspaper, he once referred to council meetings as “malarkey.”

“I think of my job with the Rams as just like any other job,” he said. “I work from 8 to 4, and then I come home. The only difference is that I travel in my business.”

Another planned part of his campaign will be to enlist some of his Ram teammates to appear on his behalf. He said he has spoken with kicker Mike Lansford, running back Mike Guman, lineman Dennis Harrah and linebacker Carl Ekhern about the possibility of making an appearance with him. And McDonald said even the Rams’ coach may make a brief tour of Burbank.

“I don’t see anything wrong with having some of the guys helping me,” he said. “If I can get Coach Robinson out here to give little Johnny an autograph and maybe get his father’s vote, great.”

But even appearances by Rams may not be enough to get him a seat on the council. Said Councilman Bowne: “I know him only through his coaching at Burroughs High School. I’ve never seen him in any other capacity. I think people will be more inclined to look at what he’s done for the city rather than the fact that he’s a long snapper for the Rams. And as far as I know, he hasn’t done anything for this city, nothing at all. He’s an unknown.”

Others vying for the two council seats are Lud Grande, Marjorie K. Brannan, Edwin LaRocque and Margie Gee. Candidates do not run for a specific seat, and victory goes to the top two vote-getters. If two candidates do not get 50% of the vote in February, a runoff election between the top four candidates will be held April 14.