Wysocki Winner in Wilmington : Flores Upbeat After Easy Council Victory

Los Angeles Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores scored an easy reelection victory in Tuesday’s municipal primary, but unofficial returns show that the two-term incumbent lost in Wilmington to challenger Jo Ann Wysocki by more than 4% of the vote.

The returns from Wilmington’s 20 precincts show that Wysocki, vice president of Wilmington’s largest homeowner organization, won 52.3% of the vote to Flores’ 47.7%. Districtwide, Flores trounced Wysocki, 72.3% to 27.7%.

“This is not just local pride in your former honorary mayor or your blond school teacher,” said Wysocki, an elementary school teacher in Huntington Park who served as Wilmington’s honorary mayor in 1988. “This blond school teacher had the gumption to go out there and say what others have been saying. Maybe this time (Flores) will listen.”

Flores, asked early Wednesday how she would react if precinct returns showed she had lost in Wilmington, said she would be unconcerned.

“I have a lot of friends and supporters in Wilmington and people working for me,” Flores said. “Besides, that is the area where (Wysocki) concentrated her campaign. If there was that trend, we will turn it around. By the end of the next four years, there is going to be such a snowball effect going on with the enthusiasm in the community because of the things we initiated there long before the campaign started.”

Wysocki, who has been one of Flores’ harshest critics since becoming involved in Wilmington affairs in 1982, charged during the campaign that Flores has neglected the industrial port-side community. She complained about poorly swept streets, illegally parked trucks, inadequate police patrols and a general lack of city services.

Flores has heard the complaints for several years from Wilmington and in recent years has worked to mend relations with the increasingly vocal and demanding community. Although she acknowledges that she has not won over all her critics, in an interview before the election Flores pointed to her work in Wilmington as her greatest accomplishment during her second term.

In particular, she pointed to her efforts to revitalize downtown Wilmington, provide waterfront access to residents, control construction of apartment buildings, require oil companies to landscape oil wells and provide funding for the new Boys and Girls Club.

Several Wilmington residents and community leaders said before Tuesday’s election that they would vote for Flores because of her overtures to the community. Others, still distrustful, said they would vote for Wysocki to let Flores know that she still has a long way to go to satisfy them.

Flores’ lopsided victory districtwide apparently was built on a strong showing in the northern part of the sprawling 15th District, which extends from Watts to San Pedro. In Watts, for example, where Wysocki is virtually unknown, Flores walloped the Wilmington activist by taking 93% of the vote.

In San Pedro, where Flores lives, unofficial results showed Flores beating Wysocki by 68.4% to 31.6%. Although Wysocki was defeated in San Pedro by more than 2 to 1, she said the returns should give Flores cause for concern because those totals fall short of her districtwide averages.

Unofficial results available Wednesday did not include ballots cast for write-in candidate Clifford E. McClain of South Los Angeles.

Flores and Wysocki never campaigned face to face, and they went about the election in very different ways. Flores spent $200,000 on the race, sending slick, targeted mailings to residents throughout the district. Wysocki, who spent about $6,000, relied on door-to-door campaigning on evenings and weekends when she was not teaching school.

The women’s differing styles were also evident on Election Night.

Wysocki spent the evening with her mother, watching the election returns on television at the house they share on Wilmington’s west side. Spread before them on a coffee table were the remnants of Wysocki’s campaign: a map of the 15th Council District, a clipboard containing a stack of voter registration records and a chart with the names of 110 people Wysocki recruited to help her canvass votes.

Wysocki said her campaign workers either telephoned or sent fliers to every registered voter in Wilmington and to voters in selected precincts elsewhere in the district. She electioneered on her own behalf in her own precinct. “My precinct is a mark of honor with me,” she said.

‘Not My Nature’ to Party

Wysocki said she intends to thank each of her campaign workers personally. But when her mother, 79-year-old Evelyn Wysocki, suggested that they should have thrown a party, the candidate demurred. “It’s not my nature,” she said.

Several miles away in San Pedro, the atmosphere was far more festive at Franko’s Restaurant, where Flores had invited her staff members and their families to join her in an Election Night celebration. About 80 people attended the dinner party, which Flores’ press deputy described as “intimate.”

A huge framed photograph of Flores stood on an easel in the entryway to the restaurant, which was festooned with red, white and blue balloons and banners that bore Flores’ name. After her guests finished eating, Flores entertained the crowd by narrating a skit that spoofed two of her top aides.

Flores seemed confident and said she was in a mood to celebrate. Even before her staff began announcing the election returns, she thanked them and their families. “This evening really is for you,” she said. “The success--when we finally announce the success--will be for you.”