Recipe For Success:

The online encyclopedia wikipedia.org defines the word “leader” as “One who can instill passion and direction to an individual or group of individuals.”

On Dec. 11, Newport Beach will choose its next mayor, and now more than ever, we need strong leadership.

Newport’s mayor is appointed by the City Council. It votes one of its own to hold this mostly ceremonial but important role. The public perception of our mayor has an impact on whether we are perceived as a strong, organized, proactive city or floundering one lacking leadership and decisiveness.

Outgoing Mayor Steve Rosansky’s leadership has been questioned several times.

The rehab conflict-of-interest issue could have easily been dispelled had he taken a proactive leadership role. His ongoing very public disagreement over the City Hall site with Councilman Keith Curry spilled over to the Daily Pilot and live TV, doing neither any good as far as perceived leadership qualities go.

The heir apparent is Mayor Pro tem Ed Selich. He’s been a consistent voice of reason on the council. He’s kept his cool and stayed out of the public arguments. Whether you agree with this latest Irvine Co. City Hall concept, at least he’s thinking out of the box, and that shows leadership initiative.

Seniority on the council doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a shoo-in for mayor. Tongues were wagging around City Hall last year that even though Leslie Daigle held the seniority position on council, she was the wrong choice for mayor.

My guess is that her scandal at the high school allegedly threatening to deport a security guard she assumed was illegal because he was Latino and lived in Costa Mesa was not the image council members had in mind for Newport’s mayor. Will it be now? Word is she is lobbying for mayor pro tem.

Of course, other issues are banging around her closet.

If you look at Daigle’s latest financial Form 460 statement covering January to June, available on the city’s website, you’ll see that in June the lease holders for the Newport Beach golf course donated $2,000 to her. That’s right around the same time she was claiming the county was going to take the golf course and turn it into an annex parking lot for JWA.

She’s still trying to resurrect that issue even though Supervisor John Moorlach appeared at a City Council meeting this summer reiterating there was no support for such a project and no plans for it. She would have known that had she called the county, as I did.

Didn’t anyone wonder why the PAC in Santa Ana Heights wasn’t up in arms about this when our community would be most impacted? We knew it was a non-issue going nowhere. But rumors have a way of staying alive when folks have agendas.

So what is the recipe for success as we move forward to a new mayor and mayor pro tem? Will this council examine its leadership qualities objectively?

Or maybe since Dave Ellis represents everyone except Nancy Gardner, he’ll just tell them whose turn is next.

BARBARA VENEZIA is the chairman of the Santa Ana Hts. Redevelopment Project Advisor Committee and was the co-creator of the cooking show “At Home on the Range” with John Crean.