Ferraro Finally Gets Day of Glory : Unsung as All-American, He Savors Top City Council Post

Los Angeles City Councilman John Ferraro, the former All-American tackle for USC, has said he “never got any glory” playing that position. On Wednesday, he got some.

By unanimous vote, his colleagues named him council president. In that position, Ferraro will preside over meetings and, most importantly, make committee assignments that can determine which issues have top priority with the city’s legislative body.

It is a status Ferraro said he cherishes, and a status he feels was taken from him when he held the president’s job before, from 1977 to 1981. In 1981, seeing that then-Councilwoman Pat Russell was likely to stage a coup against him, he redirected those voting for him to Councilman Joel Wachs, and Wachs was elected president instead. Ferraro’s satisfaction, he admitted later, was making sure that if he could not win, his rival Russell could not win either.

Bitterness Fades

But those were old memories Wednesday, the bitterness faded by new victory. Although Ferraro himself has joked that he has greater strength of body than of mind (“I said to myself, ‘John, tell them all you know, it’ll only take two minutes,’ ”) he managed on Wednesday to line up the vote of every member of the council. As he rocked back and forth in the council president’s chair, he grinned and relished the moment. “When you’re not president, it’s like being on a football team,” he told reporters, using his favorite analogy. “If you’re a substitute on the bench, you don’t see much action. Now I will be in the middle of it.”

Ferraro had been largely in the background since he lost the presidency and was trounced when he ran for mayor against Tom Bradley in 1985. He suffered a heart attack and had open heart surgery in 1979, and he was nearly legislated out of his district last year when the council battled over drawing new council district boundaries.

But true to council politics, memories are short and the vote of the moment is what counts. And when it counted, Ferraro sensed weaknesses in the support of his presidency rivals, council members Joy Picus and Joan Milke Flores, and moved to make himself a consensus choice. The difference between him and his rivals? “They didn’t get the eight votes,” Ferraro said, referring to the number necessary to win the presidency. “I have been very fair in the past, when I was president before, my personal opinions didn’t enter into it. . . . I think that affected people. I’ve been fair.”

He ‘Needs to Be Liked’

The 63-year-old moderate Democrat, described by colleagues as “a guy who needs to be liked,” said Wednesday that he was “thrilled to be reconfirmed by colleagues. I did get a few tears in my eyes when I heard the votes cast.”

His first goal as president will be characteristically practical rather then innovative: starting council meetings on time, at 10 a.m.

As he looked out at a sea of reporters’ note pads and camera lights, his wife, Margaret, sitting at his side, asked if it was all right to smoke. He nodded.

“Thank you, Mr. President,” she said.

“John, to you,” he replied.