(May 26, 2018, 6:55 a.m.) -- LBREPORT.com has learned that on Tuesday May 22, the governing board of the Long Beach Area Republicans voted to recommend that LB voters vote "no" on Measure M. The group's Vice Chair, Ben Goldberg (recently re-appointed to another term on LB's Parks & Recreation Commission by Mayor Garcia), recommended not taking a position on Measure M on grounds that doing so would impact city services.

Mr. Goldberg tells LBREPORT.com that the board voted to oppose Measure M to send a message that the LB Republican group shouldn't support high pensions and past wasteful spending. He says he argued that although past Councils did create present pension problems, voting "no" on Measure M would amount to punishing ourselves...but he was overruled and the board voted to oppose Measure M.

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At the same time, the LB Republican group is on record as endorsing the re-election of 5th dist. Council incumbent Stacy Mungo, the Council's sole Republican, who joined in putting Measure M on the ballot.

Source: LB Republicans Facebook page

In contrast, Mungo's runoff opponent, Rich Dines, a former LB Harbor Commissioner and Democrat with strong martime organized labor ties, has drawn a high visibility line by opposing Measure M in ELB's 5th Council district. Two years ago, the Measure A General Fund ("blank check") sales tax increase -- that Mungo also voted to put on the ballot -- failed passage in nearly every 5th Council district precinct. On his campaign's Facebook page, Mr. Dines stated that he wants to explain "the Mistake that Measure M is:

[Dines statement] I want to make this very clear; I am in favor of supporting and increasing funding for police and fire services. This measure however does not do that. It’s a blank check measure, much like Measure A on the 2016 ballot, which won’t have guarantees that police and fire services will see any of the money generated by the tax increase. Just like Measure A, if the city falls behind budget, they would spend Measure M revenue as they see fit and deny police and fire the funding that they deserve, which the voters have expressed.

Just like Measure A, if the city falls behind budget, they would spend Measure M revenue as they see fit and deny police and fire the funding that they deserve, which the voters have expressed.

I am not in favor of raising taxes, especially when there are no guarantees how revenue will be allocated. Many 5th District residents live on fixed incomes and Measure M will increase their tax burden. Improving public safety and addressing the rising crime epidemic in Long Beach are top priorities of mine, but this isn't the right way to do it.

Mungo has disputed characterizing Measure A as a "blank check." In an email to LBREPORT.com, Councilwoman Mungo said: "There's no such thing as a "blank check" when it comes to taxpayer dollars as far as I'm concerned. Measure A provided needed dollars to fund necessary services, including Police, Fire and infrastructure improvements...Since the 5th District has more streets and sidewalks than any other district, we now get more money than ever before as a result. So even though my district did not support the tax increase, they're reaping the rewards from it in more street and sidewalk repair than ever before in the history of the 5th District."

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Meanwhile, the Mungo campaign recently sent a mailer (photos below) to 5th dist. Democrat voters not mentioning her Republican ties and telling recipients that she's "supported by OUR [all caps in original] Democratic Leaders" with a photo of prominent Dem Mayor Robert Garcia, adding that she's "proudly endorsed by" Garcia as well as Vice Mayor Rex Richardson and Councilmembers Lena Gonzalez and Suzie Price.

Mungo was recently a prominent attendee and addressed the crowd at the LB Area Republicans' annual BBQ (photo below from LB Republicans' Facebook page.)

Source: LB Republicans Facebook page

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Although the LB City Council is nominally non-partisan, LB's incumbent Mayor and Council have in recent years taken visibly partisan Dem stances on a number of issues. These include Mayor/Council support for SB 54 (the "CA Values Act"/"sanctuary state" law); on that Feb. 2017 vote, Mungo vanished from the Council Chamber, not casting a recorded vote, and returned shortly thereafter. In March 2018, Mungo voted against approving the "Long Beach Values Act," which extended the policies of SB 54 in prohibiting multiple Long Beach city government departments beyond LBPD from sharing SB 54's information categories with federal immigration authorities.

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