Suja Lowenthal Won't Make Write-In Bid For Another Council Term But Uses Cryptic Language To Suggest She May Seek Another Office, And...
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(July 9, 2015) -- Suja Lowenthal, who has occupied the LB's 2nd district Council seat mid-2006 (election history below) announced this afternoon (July 9) that she won't seek reelection as a term-limited write-in candidate to the City Council in 2016...but in a mass emailing, she uses cryptic verbiage that leaves open the possibility that she may seek another office...and other actions (noted by LBREPORT.com) invite the inference that she plans to run for something.
In an email titled "No Ordinary Journey," Lowenthal states that although she is "fairly certain" she could win a write-in campaign for another Council term, "I am inspired by all of the different ways I may continue to be service to the residents of Long Beach." She adds, "I look forward to the journey ahead and our future endeavors together in service to our community."
So...a journey to where? We don't know for certain at this point, but...
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LBREPORT.com notes that Suja Lowenthal's 2014 campaign committee for the Assembly [in which she finished third in June 2014 and didn't progress to a November final election] remains open. We're not certain at this point for what political purposes she could legally use that money...but as of the end of 2014, the committee listed a cash balance of roughly $15,000. The Committee raised roughly $16,000 as of July 2014 from contributors including Wendy Mitchell ($500, a CA Coastal Commission member from the San Fernando Valley who staged a 2013 fundraiser for then-fellow Coastal Commission member Robert Garcia's 2014 Mayoral campaign); former LB 3rd dist. Councilman Gary DeLong ($1,000), Samuel A. ("Skip") Keesal ($4,100), the LB Police Officers Ass'n PAC ($4,100), Keep Our Ports Competitive PAC ($1,000), Synergy Oil & Gas Co. ($500) and in August 2014 listed two contributions from Jimmy Sandhu, owner of HP Tow ($1,000 + $1,000).
Some speculate that Suja Lowenthal's not-ordinary journey might include an effort to succeed term-limited Supervisor Don Knabe in 2016.
And LBREPORT.com has learned that Suja Lowenthal held a downtown fundraiser at the end of June 2015 (less than two weeks ago) for her City Council "officeholder account." As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, Councilmembers voted (without dissent) to increase the amounts they can collect for their "officeholder accounts" [critics call them slush funds] and distribute to recipients who can arguably assist in an incumbent's next career move.
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As for the 2nd district LB Council race in April 2016, Eric Gray is currently the only announced 2nd dist candidate. A visible downtown booster, Mr. Gray is part of the leadership of the Downtown Residential Council, an umbrella group for six downtown area groups and was a strong supporter of Robert Garcia's 2014 Mayoral bid. He announced his candidacy earlier this year, swiftly began fundraising...and in release just days ago, boasted of having collected over $20,000 as of June 30.
On learning that Lowenthal won't be waging a write-in campaign for the 2nd dist. Council seat, candidate Gray issued a statement saying that Lowenthal "has been a positive force for change in our community."
Suja Lowenthal first came to our attention as a member of the grassroots "Plaza Coalition," which offered the then-City Council a progressive and impressive plan for the downtown LB Plaza area...which the Council rejected. Ms. Lowenthal then sought and won a seat on the LB Unified School District governing board in 2001, promising (among other things) to support televising its meetings, a change not welcomed by then-Superintendent Carl Cohn or other then-School Board incumbents; once in office, Boardmember Lowenthal, while publicly supportive of the measure, didn't make it a priority.
In 2006, School Boardmember Lowenthal filed paperwork seeking re-election...but shortly thereafter, then 2nd dist. Councilman Dan Baker abruptly resigned, creating a Council vacancy. Lowenthal entered the special no-runoff June 2006 election for the 2nd Council district, dropping her school board campaign and effectively leaving her school district constituents with her opponent [who would ultimately face a threatened recall and would resign.]
As a Council incumbent, Lowenthal cruised to reelection in 2008, and in 2012 overcame a challenge from a downtown residential property owner (among taxpayers incensed with a special assessment levied by Downtown Long Beach Associates.) Lowenthal remained publicly non-committal on the assessment until after she'd won the election, then took actions on the Council to support implementing the charge.
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Lowenthal entered the 2014 race for Mayor but dropped out early in the campaign, endorsed Robert Garcia, and announced she would seek the LB-area Assembly seat being vacated by her now-former mother-in-law, term-limited Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal. In an outcome that surprised some local observers, she finished third in June 2014 to Councilman Patrick O'Donnell (Dem) and John Goya (a Repub).
Since then, speculation has swirled over where Suja Lowenthal might go next. Some speculate a run for L.A. County Supervisor (replacing term-limited Don Knabe.)
An ally of Mayors Bob Foster and then Councilman/Vice Mayor Robert Garcia, Councilmember/Vice Mayor Lowenthal frequently dueled with Councilmembers Rae Gabelich and Gerrie Schipske. She voted for budgets, recommended by Foster, that left taxpayers with the largest reduction in LBPD staffing over a five year period in the City's more than 100 year history, including the complete the budgeted elimination of LBPD's field anti-gang unit. She also declined to support efforts by her constituents to continue funding LB's former Park Rangers.
She voted in November 2013 to approve unbudgeted raises for city management's collective bargaining unit and was among Councilmembers (including Garcia) who refused to second a motion by Councilwoman Schipske to discuss in a Council committee an openness/transparency measure that would make Councilmembers' emails on public business public records if sent using private email systems.
Lowenthal was among the early supporters of banning plastic bags, traveling to Sacramento in support of statewide legislation, and when it initially failed, urged Long Beach to adopt its own local ban (to which the City Council agreed.) Lowenthal (along with Mayor Foster, a unanimous Council and city management) were critics of the state legislature's dissolution of Redevelopment, and backed an ultimately failed lawsuit to stop the dissolution. (Redevelopment's dissolution ultimately brought the City a cash windfall, that has been used to fund multiple infrastructure projects and provided a temporary budget "surplus" that city management acknowledged it would not have had without the cash infusion.)
Lowenthal was among the strongest proponents of the controversial downtown Civic Center project, a P3 public/private partnership enabling a private developer/operator to build, finance, operate and maintain a new LB Civic Center in exchange for City payments of annual increasing (by CPI) payments for at least 35 years [and up to 50 years under SB 562 now pending in Sacramento.] The transaction will also provide the private developer/operator with prime located land for private development under the former LB courthouse and will tear down LB's Main Library and replace it with a smaller version. In advancing the project to a Council decision, city management didn't seek bids to determine the cost of a seismic retrofit for LB's 1970s era City Hall; it simply estimated a cost. In December 2013, an award winning architect in a 2nd Council district business (Long Beach's Ultra-Unit Architectural Studio) told LBREPORT.com that seismically retrofitting Long Beach City Hall could be accomplished as an adaptive reuse project for much less than city management estimated. He received no visible or audible support from Councilwoman Lowenthal or city management. In December 2014, with strong support by Vice Mayor Lowenthal, the Council voted without dissent to pursue the Civic Center project.
