Former LB Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske Announces Run Against State Senator Janet Nguyen (Who Voted For Density-Boosting SB 35) '

' Former LB Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske Announces Run Against State Senator Janet Nguyen (Who Voted For Density-Boosting SB 35) '

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Former LB Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske Announces Run Against State Senator Janet Nguyen (Who Voted For Density-Boosting SB 35)

Decision clears field for potential ballot challenger(s) to 5th dist. Council incumbent Mungo

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(Sept. 21, 2017, 10:55 p.m.) -- Two-term ELB (5th district) Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske today (Sept. 21) made LB issues a big part of the 2018 race for a state Senate seat by announcing her candidacy to unseat incumbent state Senator Janet Nguyen (R, SE LB-West OC.)

In a statement released by her campaign, Ms. Schipske said, "We need leaders, now more than ever, who are committed to creating positive change. I am running for State Senate to fight for the working families in our communities, protect the character of our neighborhoods, nurture small business, support our public schools, and restore constructive leadership to California’s 34th Senate District. I will bring all my experience - as an attorney, nurse, former city councilmember, and college board trustee - to bear on the challenges my constituents confront."

Councilwoman Schipske (who stepped down under term limits and was significantly outspent in a 2014 run for Mayor) had mulled a potential write-in run against her successor, 5th district incumbent Stacy Mungo (seeking a second term in April 2018). Ms. Schipske's decision to pursue the state Senate seat now effectively clears the way for direct ballot challengers to surface against Council incumbent Mungo.

[Scroll down for further.]

The state Senate district spans SE LB, west OC and extends into central OC; LB makes up roughly 13.3% (in an ELB area of high propensity voters), with the remainder including parts of Anaheim, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, Orange, Santa Ana, Seal Beach and Westminster.

For a detailed map of the state Senate district, click map above or click here.

In terms of voter registration, the state Senate district's voters listed themselves as 40.45% Dem, 31.47% Repub...with 23.93% stating "no party preference." In 2016, the state Senate district's voters chose Hillary Clinton (58.5%) over Donald Trump (35.8%)

For eight years (mid 2006 to mid 2014) Ms. Schipske represented ELB's sprawling 5th Council district, parts of which (north of the 405 freeway) overlap the Senate district. Schipske is a Dem, named by President Barack Obama's White House as one of seven "Champions of Change for Open Government." She supported Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential candidacy.

Incumbent Sen. Nguyen, a Repub, former OC Supervisor and a Vietnam refugee, is strongly supported in and around the area's "Little Saigon" neighborhoods. Nguyen has also amassed a sizable campoaign warchest...with $687,066 cash on hand reported as of Dec. 31, 2016.

Sponsor

Sponsor

Among the LB issues that could come up in the race is Sen. Nguyen's voted support for SB 35, a bill backed by Sac'to Dem leadership that has raised concerns among LB residents for its verbiage "streamlining" City approval of developer-desired increased housing density (including subsidized/below market "affordable" housing projects) by reducing (and in some cases eliminating) the public's abilities (under CEQA) to object to developer-sought projects and in some cases preventing city officials from denying approval for such developer-desired projects.

SB 35's full text can be viewed by clicking here. SB 35's text speaks for itself.
The state Senate's legislative analysis of SB 35 can be viewed here.; pages 8-12 include a list of the bill's supporters and opposition.

Sponsor

SB 35 was opposed by multiple CA cities (including Lakewood and Signal Hill) and by the League of CA Cities (advocacy group for over 400+ dues paying cities, including LB) based on the bill's impacts on local control. Although the LB City Council voted earlier this year to oppose Sacramento legislation that could reduce local control, the City of LB remained "neutral" on SB 35. Less than a week before its final Sac'to votes, Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell (D, LB-SP) and 3rd Councilwoman Suzie Price publicly opposed SB 35 with Mayor Garcia quietly Tweeting to an individual that he opposed the measure. To our knowledge, Councilwoman Mungo (a member of the Council's "state legislation committee") remained publicly mum on SB 35.

When asked about SB 35 at a Sept. 16 ELB neighborhood meeting organized by residents opposed to increased density, Councilwoman Mungo didn't cite SB 35's text, or any legal opinion or tell residents about SB 35's multiple opponents. Instead, Councilwoman Mungo offered residents what Sen. Nguyen told her:

[Mungo re Nguyen] I was on the phone with [state Senator] Janet Nguyen literally as I drove here...SB 35, according Janet Nguyen's reading of the bill and her interpretation, and this is out of her mouth, not a staffer, that each time a property would like to invoke SB 35, they would need city approval, and I asked her what her opinion is on whether or not the law precludes the City of Long Beach from including city approval meaning the Council, and if not the Council, the Planning Commission. And her reading of it, and her discussion with many cities, is that we would still be able to maintain that control. So I will work on that to make sure we still maintain that control.

[Ed. note: At the same neighborhood meeting, Councilwoman Mungo declined to answer a resident's question regarding her views on a city staff proposed 5th district density increase map, claiming that to do so could risk losing her future vote on the issue. Councilwoman Mungo's statement is inaccurate based on what the City Attorney's office told us weeks earlier and applies to all Councilmembers; see LBREPORT.com coverage here.]

On Sept. 17, LBREPORT.com asked Sen. Nguyen's office if the Senator had said what Councilwoman Mungo said she said, and we also asked on what section(s) of SB 35 she based her interpretation and who else shares this view, Sen. Nguyen's Chief of Staff, Mark Reeder, replied by email that Senator Nguyen confirmed that Councilwoman Mungo's "recollection of their conversation seemed accurate and the basic description of the bill is correct."

Sponsor

Sponsor

State Senator Nguyen and Council incumbent Stacy Mungo are both Repubs and are scheduled to appear together at a LB Area Republican "fall mixer" next week (flier excerpt below.)

Portion of LB Area Republican Party announcement (event details pixeled)

As ELB's Councilmember (until she stepped down under term limits and ran for Mayor in 2014), Councilwoman Schipske endured the ire of -Mayor Bob Foster. In 2008, Councilwoman Schipske infuriated Mayor Foster by refusing to provide a unanimous Council vote to put a parcel property tax increase measure on the November ballot; Schipske's refusal effectively required City Hall to get 2/3 voter approval (under Prop 13) before imposing the property tax increase...which it failed to do with roughly 53% of the vote despite a $600,000+ campaign led by Foster.

A few years later, Schipske further angered Foster by voting against spending large up-front sums to pursue a "private-public-partnership" transaction in which the City -- without a vote of the people -- would commit to paying annual increasing sums to a private entity to tear down, build and operate an entirely new Civic Center without having sought bids for a less costly seismic retrofit of LB's less than 40 year old City Hall.

The Civic Center issue may become an issue in the state Senate race inasmuch as Sen. Nguyen voted to support Sac'to legislation, sought by LB officials and carried by state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D, LB-Huntington Park), that facilitated the Civic Center transaction by smoothing potential legal issues. After Schipske exited the Council, Councilwoman Mungo voted with a unanimous Council to approve the Civic Center transaction (backed by Mayor Robert Garcia) that will now require LB taxpayers citywide (including ELB) to pay annual increasing sums (linked to CPI) to a private firm for the next 40+ years (with payments possibly starting as soon as mid-2019.)

The CA Secretary of State's website lists some other Dems and Repubs as possibly entering the 2018 race, but also indicates their 2018 committees have been closed; LBREPORT.com will update this story with further as we learn it. If no candidate gets over 50% of the vote in June 2018, the to top two finishers regardless of party will proceed to a November 2018 runoff.