The Rest of the Story: Mayoral Candidate James "Henk" Conn Discloses Who Met With Him Prior To Paperwork Filing Deadline, Offering To Arrange Meeting With Mayor Garcia; It Was...

' The Rest of the Story: Mayoral Candidate James "Henk" Conn Discloses Who Met With Him Prior To Paperwork Filing Deadline, Offering To Arrange Meeting With Mayor Garcia; It Was...

LBReport.com

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(April 1, 2018, 1:25 p.m.) -- At a March 28 Bluff Heights Neighborhood Association candidate forum, James Henry "Henk" Conn, the sole ballot challenger to incumbent Mayor Robert Garcia, said people had accused him of costing the City $250,000 because if he didn't run, there would be no election. He told the audience that an individual he didn't identify met with him before the deadline for filing candidacy paperwork, told Mr. Conn that he had Mayor Garcia's phone number and offered to contact the Mayor to facilitate a meeting with Garcia.

Two days later (March 30) in an email to a number of LB news outlets, Mr. Conn attached Facebook screen-save messages showing that the individual was Blair Cohn, who Mr. Conn told LBREPORT.com was a high school friend. Mr. Cohn is now the widely respected Exec. Dir. of the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Ass'n and a member of Garcia's 2014 "transition team" (from Council to Mayor) whom Garcia appointed in Feb. 2015 to City Hall's Economic Development Commission.

LBREPORT.com followed-up by speaking with Mr. Conn and Mr. Cohn in preparing this story.

[Scroll down for further.]

On September 22, 2017, Mr. Conn filed a "Notice of Intention" (a non-committal action) to run for Mayor and by late 2017 was preparing to file paperwork to become a ballot-listed candidate. Mr. Cohn says (in response to LBREPORT.com's inquiry) that he mentioned to Mayor Garcia that he knew Mr. Conn since they were both high school friends, and says Mayor Garcia indicated he would be available to meet with Mr. Conn if Conn wished to do so.

Mr. Cohn says he encountered Mr. Conn by happenstance, serendipity at a public event, and the two began communicating via Facebook messages, with screen saves indicating the pair arranged to meet on December 29 at the Portfolio coffee house.

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Mr. Cohn says that during their Dec. 29 meeting, he suggested that Mr. Conn might be more effective accomplishing Conn's desired policy goals by having a "seat at the table" [figure of speech] rather than waging an uphill battle against an incumbent Mayor who has a six figure campaign warchest. Mr. Cohn offered to phone the Mayor to facilitate a meeting with the Mayor but Mr. Conn didn't provide an immediate response to the offer.

On Jan. 3, a Facebook screen save indicates Mr. Cohn wrote Mr. Conn asking if he was interested in meeting with Garcia "so I can reach out. If not, all good. Just wanted to touch base again," Mr. Cohn wrote. To this, Mr. Conn replied by Facebook message, "I don't think it'd be good for me to meet with Garcia. Thanks for the offer."

On Jan. 4, Mr. Cohn responded via Facebook message: "Understood. Keep at it. Hope to bump into you again soon." To this, Mr. Conn likewise replied: "Hope to see you soon!"

And on the same day Jan. 4, Mr. Conn submitted required paperwork qualifying as a ballot candidate for Mayor. Four days later on Jan. 8, incumbent Mayor Garcia filed the required paperwork.

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Three days later on Jan 11, Robert Fox, who gained citywide visibility leading the grassroots Council of Neighborhood Organizations' opposition to proposed density increases in an advancing draft Land Use Element, filed a (non-committal) Notice of Intention to run for Mayor. Mr. Fox also issued a statement: "The experience of the Land Use Element, is only one issue which indicates that the voice of the citizenry is not being represented. (heard, yes. represented, no.) This is the last thing I would curse on anyone, but the times seem to call for someone to step forward. Therefore, I am going to run for Mayor of the City of Long Beach." (LBREPORT.com coverage here.) Within hours, Mr. Fox had collected sufficient voter nomination signatures and completed required paperwork to meet the filing deadline of 5:00 p.m. Jan. 12.

On Jan 12, Mayor Garcia met with Mr. Fox. The filing deadline passed at 5:00 p.m. At 6:31 p.m., Mr. Fox sent an mass email explaining his decision not to run for Mayor (LBREPORT.com coverage here.) Among the reasons cited by Mr. Fox for declining to run was that Mayor Garcia pledged to issue a statement that night [which he did] opposing rent control [which Garcia told others is consistent with his previously stated position on the issue.]

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The net result leaves James "Henk" Conn the sole Long Beach ballot challenger to incumbent Mayor Robert Garcia.

In an March 30 email to LB media outlets accompanying the Facebook screen saves, Mr. Conn wrote: "I ran for Mayor because of my belief that the city of Long Beach needs rent control. I want to help a city with 60% renting, 40% under the national poverty line, and 20% living in severe poverty. I ran because of my knowledge that rent control can help the people of our city. I believe in democracy, and I think it's wrong to limit choices."

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