Council Race: Al Austin Garners Endorsements for 8th District Campaign
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- By Brian Addison Follow @FoucaultDude
- | Monday, 12 December 2011 07:04
8th District candidate Al Austin (right), here with Tonia Reyes-Uranga (left).
1:30pm | Recently, a coalition of Latino elected and community leaders announced support for Al Austin in his bid for the 8th District seat on the Long Beach City Council.
After the 2011 redistricting process, the 8th District has become one of the most diverse districts within the city of Long Beach, with Hispanic residents making up 45% of its population. Amongst Mr. Austin's endorsers are Assemblymember Ricardo Lara, who is also a running candidate for the newly drawn 33rd Senate District which partially sits in Long Beach; Assemblymember Tony Mendoza; former Long Beach City Councilmember Tonia Reyes-Uranga; Federal Maritime Commissioner Mario Cordero; 8th District PTA Leader Janet Molina-Watt; and community leader Jessica Quintana.
And Big Al A has many supporters too,including some of the anti Bob folks..
Al is a nice guy. Wonder how much money he can raise?
But many of us wonder about Mike Kowal ? He could self fund and is a no non sense, no B.S. independent thinker. You are not going to find anybody claiming that he is a brown nos-er or tool...many like that ! The juevos factor..
Mike has done so much good work for the community with HUSH 1,2, Neighborhoods first and much more.
Many think that Rae G has been wonderful for the 8th . Mike is probably most like her. Deep roots and all....passion
Mike might be wise to move back into the 8th despite 'The gang'', or fate gerrymandering him out of his home district....
He has a right to be plenty pissed off but it is time to get over it and get downtown to fix many bigger problems.
Until Mike's plans are clear nobody can call this race... .
They say that endorsements no longer make that big of a difference in council contests.
Past elections clearly prove this fact in LB. Many have had the key endorsements and lost..
But in the 8th, the support of Rae Gabelich will probably be the big one, she is very respected...so...? And if Mike does not run, his support will be key too??
And knocking on a bunch of doors is going to be important too. That helped Johnson a lot.
We hope that the Mayor pouring money into the candidate account of his choice does not end up more or less 'buying' another seat for which he and his PAC are in effect the marionette...
Our council seems to work best when an honest debate is present from true grass roots advocates..
But another factor is that Bob is said to not be getting a lot of traction in Sacramento and elsewhere with his desire to ascend the political ladder??
He may end up staying here for a 3rd term? Why else would he be so involved in aligning who next serves downtown?
As the wheel turns....
We hope that the residents get to know and vet, and choose the best candidate who will serve the 8th.
Another question is...maybe Rae will seek a 3rd term? We would bet on that one big time.....but she would make a much better Mayor, and she seems far better suited for it than Bob. Sorry...
In any event, Rae will be missed and few can fill her , honest, fair, dedicated yet elegant shoes.
Good luck to all including BF.
And neither Herlinda nor Al are carpetbaggers.
Can it get any worse?