(March 19, 2012) -- LB Mayor Bob Foster has endorsed Lillian Kawasaki in the 8th district City Council race, setting the stage for a de facto duel between the records of the current and former Mayor (and their allies) versus 8th district Councilwoman Rae Gabelich -- who has endorsed Al Austin. In a release, the Kawasaki campaign calls Mayor Foster a "widely respected community and business leader" and notes that Ms. Kawasaki is also endorsed by former LB Mayor Beverly O'Neill. [Kawasaki release text] "Lillian Kawasaki has an impressive record of public service and a inclusive style of leadership that will serve Long Beach well," said Mayor Foster. "She is committed to doing the right thing for the 8th District and our City. Lillian has my confidence and I enthusiastically support her candidacy." Councilwoman Gabelich announced her endorsement of Mr. Austin in February (LBReport.com coverage, click here) and amplified it over the weekend with a Facebook dispatch in which she added: "We need a neighborhood champion representing us at city hall...Al won't compromise on the quality of our neighborhoods just to get along." Councilwoman Gabelich scored an upset victory in 2004, outpolling an O'Neill backed incumbent after Gabelich led LBHUSH2's efforts (first from the public podium, then from the 8th district Councilmember's chair) against attempts during the O'Neill administration to expand LB Airport's permanent terminal facilities to nearly twice the size that the Council ultimately approved. More recently, Gabelich challenged city management and Mayor Foster on budget and spending items and was outvoted by Foster's current Council majority. In August-September 2011, Councilwoman Gabelich and Councilmembers Schipske and Neal offered a budget alternative that sought to avert a number of cuts to police, fire and other city services by tapping the already accrued oil revenue. Mayor Foster, who backed further cuts impacting already-reduced police and fire services under a formula he calls "proportional reductions," called the millions in oil revenue (from City Hall assuming oil would be at a lower price than it has been for the past year) "one time" money. In September 2011, a Council majority voted down the Gabelich-Schipske-Neal budget alternative 3-6, then in a reverse vote in early October approved spending roughly $18 million in oil revenue on items ranging from increased tree trimming to upgrading City Hall's website, as well as unspecified budget FY12 spending that city management called "smoothing." And in a political irony noted by Dave Wielenga on GreaterLongBeach.com, in 2007 Mayor Foster heartily endorsed Mr. Austin in a "winner-take-all" special election to fill the 6th district seat vacated by Sacramento-ascendent Assemblywoman (now Congresswoman) Laura Richardson. (Dee Andrews ultimately prevailed in that special election).
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