Days After Signing (Not Vetoing) Ordinance Change Letting Himself And Council Incumbents Use Contribs To Their "Officeholder Accounts" To Support Candidates They Favor For Other Offices, Mayor Garcia Will Hold Downtown Fundraiser Tonight (April 27) Seeking Sums To Benefit His Candidate Committee For 2018 Mayoral Run

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(April 27, 2017, 9:05 a.m.) -- Just days after signing -- not vetoing -- a narrowly-enacted Council-ordinance change letting himself and other LB incumbents use sums "contributed" their "officeholder" accounts to benefit candidates running for other offices, Mayor Robert Garcia will hold a fundraiser tonight (April 27) at a downtown Long Beach location to collect sums from invited contributors to his recently established (April 19) candidate committee seeking a second term as Mayor.

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Tonight's event was likely scheduled before controversy over a Council majority's April 18 vote (5-3, Supernaw, Price, Mungo dissenting, Richardson absent) that lets themselves use contributions to their "officeholder accounts" (sums collected outside election cycles) to support their favored candidates for other offices. (The Council action has been criticized editorially by LBREPORT.com and in editorials and opinion page pieces in other LB publications.)

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The most recent Council action follows a Jan-Feb. 2015 Council majority vote (Price, Mungo, Austin dissenting. 4th dist. vacant) that tripled annual collectable totals to their officeholder accounts, enabling Council incumbents to collect up to $30,000 each per year, and citywide electeds (including Garcia) to collect up to $75,000 per year. The 2015 action came less than a year after a new Council majority (dists. 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9) and Mayor Garcia began their present terms of office. Combined with the April 2017 action, LB elected incumbents -- including Garcia -- can now use their tripled "officeholder account" sums to benefit candidates they favor for other offices.

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Among the five Council incumbents seeking re-election in April 2018:

Four of the five -- Gonzalez, Mungo, Uranga and Richardson (with Mungo switching and voting "no" on the final vote) cast votes in April 2017 to allow use of officeholder accounts to support political candidates favored by the incumbents.
Three of the five -- Gonzalez, Uranga and Richardson -- voted in Jan-Feb. 2015 to triple annual collectable officeholder sums for themselves and citywide electeds, including the Mayor.
Mayor Garcia, who didn't veto either action, gained the greatest contribution benefits from the 2015 officeholder tripling action (collected roughly $72,000 in "contributions" outside the election cycle in the second half of 2016) and can now use all or part of those sums to benefit his favored incumbents in other offices.

Further to follow on LBREPORT.com.

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