BRIEFLY : Carson: Appointment for Council Vacancy

The City Council appointed Planning Commissioner Mary Anne O’Neal to fill the vacancy on the council at an emotional meeting Tuesday.

Mayor Michael I. Mitoma nominated O’Neal, whom he appointed to the Planning Commission two years ago.

“I was looking for somebody (who) had a long record of service to the community without looking for higher office,” Mitoma said.

The vote was 3 to 1, with Councilwoman Lorelie S. Olaes opposing the nomination. Olaes wanted the seat to go to Keith McDonald, who came in second in the April election for a council seat.

After the vote, Olaes angrily demanded to know the procedure for a recall. When O’Neal arrived at the meeting and was sworn in, Olaes left and did not return.

Tempers have remained frayed in the community since the election, when all three candidates backed by United Voice, an African American political group, came in a close second. Olaes, a Filipina, also backed the candidates.

O’Neal is African American but is not a member of United Voice. She is the first black to serve on the council since Juanita M. McDonald was elected to the state Assembly in 1992. Keith McDonald is the assemblywoman’s son.

O’Neal, who fills the vacancy created when Mitoma was elected mayor, will serve until 1996.

She worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District as a math teacher and was co-author of the Mathematics Framework for California Public Schools. She retired in 1986.