Costa Mesa’s Wendy Leece gearing up for life after public office
After accolades upon accolades had poured in, outgoing Costa Mesa Councilwoman Wendy Leece, wearing a new dress she recently bought at South Coast Plaza, faced the audience in front of the speaker’s podium.
She had received compliments that evening from her supporters, ranging from heroically standing “alone” — like Great Britain against the Axis powers in the 1940s — to having Wonder Woman-like powers.
“It’s kind of like a graduation,” Leece told the packed chambers during the Dec. 2 council meeting, “or I’m at my own funeral when people say such amazing things about me.”
Minutes earlier, her supporters, many of whom are activists who regularly attend and speak up at public meetings in City Hall, had invited her down to the “cheap seats,” should she want to participate alongside them after her time on the dais is up.
Leece officially left City Hall that evening, the same evening Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer and Councilwoman Katrina Foley were sworn in after winning the November elections.
In an interview inside her Westside home soon after, her dog, Tucker, at her lap, Leece said when she witnessed Foley taking the oath of office, she felt “a burden has been lifted.”
Now, her 20-year political life behind her, she could move away from pondering the ongoing issues — medical marijuana dispensaries and Police Department staffing problems, to name a few.
Still, she said, even though her time in public office and in the public eye is up, life still felt like it was running at “a council pace.”
“It’s hard to, all of a sudden, come to a screeching halt and realize I don’t have to worry about things so much,” she said.
Among her parting gifts was a custom-made photo book arranged by city staff. It contains pictures of her throughout the years. Dozens of city staffers also posed for pictures, holding letters that spelled out words like, “leadership,” “awesome” and “class act.”
“They appreciated me because I fought for them,” Leece said, perusing the book. “It was the right thing to do.”
The 66-year-old served two four-year terms on council, beginning in 2006, but was already a familiar name in local politics long before that.
Leece, a Republican, was elected to two terms on Newport-Mesa Unified School board, from 1994 to 2002, and served four years on the city Parks and Recreation Commission. On the school board, she was known for her social conservatism.
“I didn’t like certain books; I didn’t like certain textbooks,” she told the Daily Pilot in 2012. “I was for abstinence, American history, and I was for the balanced approach to intelligent design and evolution. In other words, ‘Let’s just be fair and get everything out there.’”
This past year was a particularly busy one, though unsuccessful, as she sought out a seat in other offices. Leece surprised many political observers in January by announcing her intent to run in June against entrenched U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) for the 48th Congressional District.
She didn’t garner enough votes to make the runoff election in November, so she opted to run for the Orange County Water District. She faced incumbent Shawn Dewane, who also serves on Mesa Water District, which primarily serves Costa Mesa.
Dewane solidly kept his seat, garnering 20,653 votes to Leece’s 12,206.
When asked why she ran for the two seats, Leece replied: “Why not? It was worth a try.”
Through the latter years of her time on council, Leece was a consistently dissenting voice against the majority led by Jim Righeimer, who, for the past four years, has been the mayor and mayor pro tem.
Her votes won her the adoration of activists who frequently spar with Righeimer, though they were not enough to sway many large decisions.
Leece dissented on the city charter measures, on several new housing developments and, perhaps most notably, the outsourcing effort from 2011 that caused the municipal employee union to sue City Hall, a lawsuit which is still in court.
“I worked hard to represent the residents on issues, and on their personal concerns too,” Leece said.
One of her favored projects — a central library for Costa Mesa — found some backing with the council and is underway. The plan calls for converting the 24,000-square-foot Neighborhood Community Center into a large library and using the adjacent Donald Dungan library branch as a replacement meeting space.
She says she always worked hard “to get the facts” on the matters at hand.
“You can’t vote until you get all the information,” Leece said. “It’s an obsession.”
Near her home office, she’s maintained piles of papers, some of which were recently sent to the shredder.
The remaining papers are piled together in separate subjects: water issues, environmental topics, legal forms, her Military Affairs Team, tax returns.
“I’m glad I can finally get rid of it,” she said with a smile. “Make some extra space.”
City Hall life now behind her, Leece said she will continue substitute teaching and spending time with her children and grandchildren.
But she couldn’t rule out the possibility of running for council in 2016. City term limits prohibit a third consecutive term, but she could run again after a two-year break.
“Well, I’m open. I certainly am open,” she said. “We have a great city. We have people who like the way that I serve. I’m happy if I’m rested up in two years to go back.”
