President Biden Nominates Mayor Garcia To "Trustee of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation"; It's Not An Administration Position And Leaves Him In Mayor's Office, For Now

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President Biden Nominates Mayor Garcia To "Trustee of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation"; It's Not An Administration Position And Leaves Him In Mayor's Office, For Now
How many omissions or half truths can you spot in his self-description given to White House?

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(June 24, 2021, 12:55 p.m.) -- After months of speculation that he might be in line for a cabinet level or meaningful Biden administration position -- that would create a vacancy in the Mayor's office for pursuit by multiple candidates -- President Biden today listed Mayor Garcia among 17 nominees to various positions outside his administration.

He named Garcia as a "Trustee of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation."

After supporting Hillary Clinton (over Bernie Sanders) in 2016, Garcia initially supported Kamala Harris' failed presidential bid but like other CA establishment Democrats switched to endorsing Biden. Following the election, Garcia has uncritically applauded Biden administration actions.

The White House release describes Mayor Garcia as follows [in text likely provided by Garcia or his office.]

Dr. Robert Garcia is an educator and the 28th Mayor of Long Beach. Mayor Garcia immigrated to the United States at age 5 and was raised in Southern California. The Mayor, a college and university educator, holds an M.A. from the University of Southern California and an Ed.D. in Higher Education from Cal State Long Beach, where he also earned his B.A. in Communications. Mayor Garcia leads a city made up of nearly 500,000 residents, 6,000 city employees, an airport and the second largest container seaports in the world. He is focused on making the City of Long Beach a leader in education, public health and climate protection. As Mayor, he has championed progressive education policy, launched an aggressive climate plan, supported workers by increasing wages; and fought to expand and protect rights for immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and women -- including appointing a female majority to serve on city commissions for the first time in history.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Garcia launched a national model for COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. His city became the first jurisdiction in the State of California to vaccinate public school teachers, which allowed one of the largest school districts in the state to reopen campuses. Mayor Garcia was the first mayor in the country to rollout a comprehensive city economic recovery plan -- the Long Beach Recovery Act -- to reinvigorate the economy, build a healthier community and get people back to work. To date, 99% of all senior residents in Long Beach have been vaccinated and the city has been hailed by Governor Newsom and national news outlets as a model for its public health and economic response. He is married to Matthew Mendez Garcia, a professor of political science at California State University, Long Beach.

[Comment: LBREPORT.com invites Long Beach readers to identify significant omissions and/or half truths in the text likely provided by Garcia to the White House. Garcia's nomination (even to this low level spot) will require approval by some entity (details and procedure currently unclear) where his representations about his record may receive scrutiny they've mainly avoided locally.]

The Truman Foundation was former President Truman's idea, created by Congress in 1975 to support individuals seeking "public service leadership."

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