Second in a series. 

Re: “Mr. City Clerk, You Are So Familiar” 

Dateline Carson – The year before this blue-collar community may land two National Football League teams, an unheard of coup, the mayor-turned-city clerk was explaining how this thundering development came about.

“Last November, the two teams approached the city attorney of Carson through their attorney,” Jim Dear said of the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders. (The teams have employed one law firm.)

“The city attorney, in turn, told the mayor and the City Council members,” Mr. Dear said.

This thunderbolt occurred precisely as Mr. Dear, the mayor for more than a decade, announced he was running in March for city clerk, an office that paid a much more attractive salary, by almost 80 percent.

Did the football news cause him to rethink his plans?

“No,” said Mr. Dear, “because I am a man of options.”

As in, thinking ahead.

“If we don’t get a football stadium, I am going to work hard to try and get a fashion outlet mall in the same location.”

Mr. Dear was reluctant to predict odds for landing the two franchises.

“We are going to do the best we can to get the (80,000-seat) stadium built in Carson,” he said.

A few miles north of this South Bay community, similar drama has gripped another town.

“I am sure Inglewood will continue to do whatever they can to build a stadium and get a team, too,” Mr. Dear said of rival efforts, led by Inglewood Mayor James Butts, to acquire the St. Louis Rams’ franchise, which used to be based at the Coliseum.

Mr. Dear said his relationship with Mr. Butts “is more than cordial.”

(To be continued)