Mayor Kruse Will Not Seek Reelection Next Spring

Sarann Kruse, Lawndale’s first elected woman mayor and a dominant force in city politics for 14 years, announced Thursday that she will not seek reelection in April.

In a two-page statement that she read at Thursday’s City Council meeting, Kruse said she would leave her post after completing her fourth two-year term.

“There comes a time in one’s political life (when a person) should decide to move over and allow others to come forward to participate in this process,” she said. “Tonight, I am officially announcing that I will not be seeking reelection as your mayor in April, 1990.”

Kruse declined to be interviewed Thursday before going out of town on Friday.

Kruse’s announcement came as no surprise to her council colleagues.

Councilman Harold E. Hofmann, who said he is seriously considering seeking the mayoral seat, said he has known for several months that Kruse was not interested in another term as mayor--a job that he said takes a great deal of time and energy.

Councilman Dan McKenzie, who said he also would not seek his third term as a council member, agreed that being on the council can be a frustrating and time-consuming job.

“She’s put in her years,” he said. “She’s done a good job; you can’t take that away from her.”

Councilman Larry Rudolph, who said he is not interested in running for mayor but would seek his second four-year council term, said Kruse told him months ago that she intended to step down.

Gary McDonald, a development consultant who resigned from his appointed post as planning commissioner in June to run for mayor, said he is still interested in the position. But McDonald said that if Hofmann, a longtime friend and ally, decides to seek the mayor’s post, he will consider running for the council.

Hofmann has more experience and “definitely has the community at heart,” McDonald said.

McDonald, who also said he was not surprised by Kruse’s announcement, said he believes Kruse dropped out of the race because she felt she had lost the support of her constituency and would lose a bid for reelection.

Kruse, a 49-year-old aerospace administrator, was elected mayor in 1982, vowing that she would put an end to the personal squabbles that plagued the council meetings at the time.

But the verbal roughhousing and heated disputes have continued throughout most of her tenure. In recent years, Kruse has often found herself on the losing side of a 3-2 vote with Councilwoman Carol Norman on her side and Rudolph, McKenzie and Hofmann siding against her.

Norman, who said she would consider running for the mayoral post if Hofmann runs unopposed, said she will miss Kruse as the presiding officer.

“She’s a lady,” Norman said. “She has the patience of a saint.”

In her statement, Kruse asked that her successor bring “harmony and respect to city government” and a “spirit of cooperation.”