LBREPORT.com has obtained a copy of an mailed invitation to a mid-June fundraiser at the downtown Long Beach office of the Keesal, Young & Logan lawfirm, sent by "Patrick O'Donnell for Assembly 2014" (the entity LBREPORT.com was first (again) to report was formed by O'Donnell in late 2012.)

The invitation lists a number of political and public figures as supporting O'Donnell's Assembly candidacy, including [bracketed material by LBREPORT.com]:

Mayor Bob Foster, Senator Betty Karnette (ret.), Long Beach Vice Mayor Robert Garcia, Long Beach Vice Mayor Jackie Kell (ret), [LB Harbor Comm'r] Long Beach Councilman Doug Drummond (ret.), LB School Board member Dr. Felton Williams, Signal Hill Councilman Larry Forester, Water Replenishment District Director Rob Katherman, Apt. Ass'n CA Southern Cities, Michael Dene, [LB Harbor Comm'r] Rich Dines, Elaine Hutchison, [former LB Harbor Comm'r] Mike Walter, [East Anaheim St. Business Ass'n President] Rodney Wilson

The invitation lists the following contribution levels:

$ 4,100: Platinum Sponsor
$ 2,000: Gold Sponsor
$ 1,000: Silver Sponsor
$ 500: Bronze Sponsor
$ 99: Individual

[LBREPORT.com note: Contributing $99 instead of $100 in the election cycle enables the contributor to remain anonymous on campaign contribution reports. It's a technique commonly used in campaigns.]

As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, former Long Beach Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga has also announced her candidacy for the Long Beach-San Pedro Assembly seat. So has Signal Hill Councilman Ed Wilson. They're both Dems.

This isn't the first time Councilman O'Donnell has sought the Long Beach area Assembly seat. He formed a committee to run for the Assembly in 2012 but dropped that bid -- and instead sought a third four-year City Council term -- when Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal dropped her 2012 state Senate bid and sought a final two year Assembly term.

In late December 2012, a little over six months he was re-elected to a third-term following write-in and runoff campaigns, Councilman O'Donnell filed paperwork forming the O'Donnell for Assembly 2014 committee. LBREPORT.com was first (again) to report the development...and Councilman O'Donnell told us in early January 2013 that he hadn't made any candidacy announcement regarding the 2014 Assembly race, wasn't saying that he is running or isn't running and noted that he transferred money to the new Committee from his 2012 Council re-election campaign in compliance with a year-end deadline for closing out his Council reelection committee. "Right now, my focus is very simple. I'm a teacher in the classroom by day, and a part time Councilmember by day and night," he said.

Councilman O'Donnell's decision to pursue a third four-year Council term drew early fire from the LB JOBS PAC, a political action committee independent of but sharing supporters within the leadership of the LB Area Chamber of Commerce. The LB JOBS PAC, which supported John Watkins in the 2012 Council election cycle, launched robo-calls and mailers aimed at O'Donnell, predicting that he would rum for Assembly in 2014 and, if he succeeds, force a costly special election to fill the last two years of his Council term.

During audience Q & A at a March 22, 2012 4th district candidate forum presented by the Stearns Park Neighborhood Ass'n., Diana Lejins, a supporter of Council candidate Daryl Supernaw, grilled Councilman O'Donnell on whether he'd seek a 2014 Assembly term. To hear the exchange, click here.

[LBREPORT.com presented extended audio coverage of the candidate forum which remains online; Ms. Lejins directed questions to all three Council candidates; we indicate our audio edit on the sound clip above with a "whoosh" sound.]

Candidate Watkins finished third in the April 2012 initial Council election; Councilman O'Donnell (backed by independent expenditures from organized labor, the LB Police and Firefighter Associations PACs and Mayor Bob Foster) went on to outpoll challenger Supernaw in a June 2012 runoff...and Councilman O'Donnell was sworn into his third four-year term of office in mid-July 2012.

March 2012: O'Donnell (left) was then seeking write-in reelection to third four year Council term alongside ballot candidates Supernaw and Watkins

The Assembly election will be in June 2014...and the top two June finishers (regardless of party) will proceed to a November 2014 runoff. That means two Long Beach Dems -- O'Donnell and Reyes Uranga -- who are respectively current and former Long Beach Councilmembers -- may end up slugging it out twice next year (if neither Wilson nor anyone else finishes first or second in June).

Further to follow on LBREPORT.com.