LBREPORT.com inquired about this after more than one source told us that during a well-attended fundraiser at E.J. Malloy's in Bixby Knolls (at which one person said "all the major local players were visible"), Austin made some type of reference to possibly seeking the state Senate seat that would become vacant if incumbent Senator Ricardo Lara is elected state Insurance Commissioner. Councilman Austin confirmed the fundraiser, didn't confirm making that statement but said he has "had private discussions about possibilities and future options with family and friends."

Councilman Austin's reasoning made perfect political sense. First elected to the Council in 2012, he faced LB's two-term limit law that required him to wage a write-in campaign if he sought a third Council term. In the second half of 2017, Austin filed paperwork creating "Al Austin for Senate 2020" and began raising money.

A month earlier in November 2017, Councilman Austin agendized an item asking Mayor Garcia to convene a meeting of the City Charter Committee to consider charter amendments creating an Ethics Commission and a Redistricting Commission, impressive sounding items that could prove useful in a campaign. Austin's agendized item sought action within 30 days, which Austin agreed to change in his floor motion to 60-90 days, but that period came and went without Mayor Garcia doing what Austin sought and the Council directed.

Instead, term-limit related matters began percolating to the surface.

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In late January 2018, former Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske told LBREPORT.com that Councilman Austin mentioned in a passing remark at the CA Democratic Convention that some type of unspecified LB term limits measure was in the works. LBREPORT.com couldn't independently confirm City Hall discussion of the issue and didn't report it, but when Ms. Schipske mentioned the alleged incident in an August Facebook comment, we asked Councilman Austin about it. His reply: "I don't recall such conversation."

During the intervening months, LBREPORT.com learned that Austin's early fundraising for state Senate had rankled some City Hall incumbents who were quietly eyeing the state Senate seat but couldn't publicly admit it while they simultaneously sought re-election in LB's 2018 election cycle. Austin didn't face that hurdle and in December 2017, collected a number of contributions for a possible state Senate run (the largest from Riverwalk Builder, LLC: for $4,400) and continued collecting sums into March 2018.

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On April 25, 2018, the City Attorney's office circulated a cryptic term-limit related memo, indicating that under LB's current (now erased) term limits law, Councilmembers could continue to run indefinitely. The memo indicated it resulted from an inquiry from 6th dist. Councilman Andrews, LB's eldest Councilmember who (conventional wisdom assumed) wouldn't seek a fourth term after winning a third term in 2016.

On May 31, 2018 (with no further Council meetings scheduled before June 12), Mayor Garcia and City Auditor Doud created an ad hoc joint letterhead and sent Councilmembers a letter that stated: "Over the last few years, members of the community, City Commissions, and many of you have discussed ways to make our government more effective, efficient, and ethical," they wrote, saying the measures included a redistricting commission and an ethics commission, the two items for which Austin had sought discussion months earlier. The Garcia-Doud letter described the other measures as "strengthening our term limit laws, defining the authority of the City Auditor, and consolidating our utility departments" adding "We believe these changes are good government measures and look forward to working with the City Council to put these measures before the voters of Long Beach to consider."

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When texts of the measures became publicly available in advance of a Garcia-called June 12, 2018 Charter Amendment Committee meeting, they drew immediate opposition. The ethics commission, redistricting commission and auditor measures were tweaked/amended; the Mayor-chosen Water Commission president advised dropping the utility measure...but the Mayor/Council left the term limit measure's proposed text unchanged.

As written, the term limits text let Councilman Austin avoid having to wage a write-in campaign for a third Council term in 2020 and also created a special carve-out enabling Councilman Andrews to seek a fourth Council term in 2020.

BBB's text could have been written to avoid both of these outcomes. It wasn't.

The net result: if Sen. Lara wins the Insurance Commissioner race (in which he's currently leading 50.8% to 49.2% by a slim 116,000+ votes statewide), Councilman Austin will have to decide if he wants to pursue the resulting state Senate seat vacancy...while BBB has now given him the option of seeking a third Council term without a write-in requirement.

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If Austin decides not to pursue the state Senate seat, it would clear the way for Councilmembers Lena Gonzalez and/or Roberto Uranga. to enter the race in a demographically dominant Hispanic/Latino state Senate district.

LBREPORT.com is aware of a separate state Senate 2020 campaign committee created in 2017 by former Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal (who was muscled out of the 2012 state Senate race by Lara.) However Mayor Garcia may have quelled that ambition by choosing Lowenthal for LB's Harbor Commissioners in mid-2017. We think it's unlikely that Harbor Commissioner Lowenthal would give up that perk-filled position to return to the Sacramento pressure cooker.

It's unclear to us what Councilman Andrews will do, but he's defied conventional wisdom before, and it's a matter of record that he asked the City Attorney's office about further Council terms months in or about April. To us, the April City Attorney memo was a tip off that some discussions with the incumbents about term limits were underway.

But with whom? And why did the City Attorney agree to draft any charter amendment texts on subjects on which there'd been no Council voted action asking the City Attorney do so? In our view, some City Attorney aspects to this story are very troubling and we plan to discuss them separately.

We doubt that Mayor Garcia wants a third term as LB's Mayor is currently constituted. We believe the next step (perhaps enabled again by a robotic City Auditor) is for Garcia, or his successor, to propose another self-serving ballot measure portrayed as "good government" that would create a "full time Council." This would offer the incumbents full time salaries (without necessarily producing better results for taxpayers), fattening their lifetime pensions, replacing the City Manager and giving the Mayor the ability to directly control city departments and city staff.

We still speculate that Garcia is likely to bolt if the opportunity arises. Incoming Governor Newsom, with whom Garcia has taken pains to ingratiate himself, will have useful appointment powers. Or Congressman Alan Lowenthal may be quietly told to enjoy a final term in the leadership of a Dem House majority and then graciously clear the way for Garcia to ride a 2020 "blue wave" into DC. Or both.

If Garcia does plan to exit, we expect he'll announce his intentions early. That would clear the way for (speculation) Councilman Rex Richardson and/or Councilwoman Suzie Price and/or Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell to run for Mayor.

The Long Beach Reform Coalition, which raised a sizable sum in its initial effort focused on defeating BBB, has signaled that it doesn't intend to go away. On the contrary, its leaders have indicated that they believe the election outcome shows why reforms are needed now more than ever.

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