In the video ad, Mayor Garcia stands alongside two prominent Cambodian community figures, Charles Song and Laura Som, who then follow Mayor Garcia with statements in Khmer that audibly mention DDD along with AAA, BBB and CCC [full translation not immediately available.]

[Scroll down for further.]

The video ad (embedded below), which surfaced Oct. 26 on YouTube, shows Mayor Garcia urging the Cambodian community to vote for AAA, BBB, CCC and DDD and reciting the importance of DDD to the Cambodian community without mentioning that AAA-CCC deal with other subjects. AAA would explicitly authorize the City Auditor to conduct performance audits that her office already conducts; BBB would let the Mayor and Councilmembers seek third terms without a write-in requirement, and CCC would create an ethics commission whose majority would be chosen by the Mayor and Auditor.

[Mayor Garcia video ad] Hi, I'm Mayor Robert Garcia, asking you to vote Yes on Measures AAA, BBB, CCC and DDD. Today I want to talk about DDD. This measure is so important for our Cambodian community. Currently right now, our Cambodian community is split up into four different City Council districts. We want to bring all of our communities of Cambodia together in one Council district. Measure DDD creates an independent citizens redistricting commission to ensure that the districts are fair and brings communities of interests to together. Support our amazing Cambodian community and vote Yes on DDD and AAA, BBB, CCC.

If LB's Cambodian community votes in a unified manner for Measure DDD and also votes to support the three other measures, the result could produce a numerical boost for the Mayor-sought Measures AAA, BBB and CCC.

The strategy is consistent with what LBEPORT.com observed and reported (first again) at an Oct. 4 event at the E. Anaheim St. MAYE Center that was publicly described as a kickoff rally for Measure DDD. During the event, Mr. Song explicitly advised Cambodian community members to support Measures AAA-CCC in addition to DDD and organizers distributed lawn signs (stored and readied on site) from by the Garcia-operated political committee supporting AAA-DDD.

Although Mayor Garcia says in the video ad that DDD will "bring all of our communities of Cambodia together in one Council district," on August 4, Professor Alex Norman, DSW, explained at an event organized by Equitable Redistricting for Cambodians (three days before the City Council voted to put the text of DDD on the ballot) that it's feasible to redraw Council district lines to include roughly 52% of LB's Central LB Cambodian community residents in one of LB's nine Council districts. Dr. Norman acknowledged that a portion of LB's Cambodian community now lives in NLB, but said that putting a little over half of LB's Central LB Cambodian community into one Council district would create a sufficiently large Cambodian voice that the district's Council member couldn't ignore.

Two months later, the Oct. 4 event listed on Facebook as a "Measure DDD Kickoff -- End Gerrymandering in Long Beach" hosted by "Equitable Redistricting For Camobidians" and "two others" (clickable link shows "League of Women Voters - Long Beach Area" and "California Common Cause") included Mayor Garcia and Councilman Al Austin who made brief opening remarks, then exited without fielding audience questions. Speakers from "Common Cause" (Sylvia Moore) and LB's League of Women Voters (Kimberly Ritter) then focused mainly on DDD, until Mr. Song spoke and explicitly urged meeting attendees to vote "yes" on all four Charter Amendments. Shortly thereafter, the audience was offered lawn signs from the Garcia-operated political committee supporting AAA+BBB+CCC+DDD (already on site for distribution.)

Three of LB's current Councilmembers (Supernaw, Price and Mungo), who joined a unanimous Council in voting on Aug. 7 to put Measures AAA-DDD on the ballot, have since declined to personally endorse Measure BBB (lets incumbents seek third term without a write-in requirement.) Among those now not publicly supporting BBB is Councilman Daryl Supernaw whose 4th district includes a sizable portion of LB's Cambodia Town. One of the three, 3rd dist. Councilwoman Suzie Price, has publicly indicated that she plans to vote against BBB. And immediate-past 4th dist. Councilman (now Assemblyman) Patrick O'Donnell has said he opposes BBB, citing what he calls misleading statements by its proponents.

Measure BBB is opposed by the Long Beach Reform Coalition, comprised of a number of grassroots LB groups and veteran neighborhood activists. BBB is also independently opposed editorially by the LB Business Journal., The LB Area Chamber of Commerce has taken a "neutral" position on BBB.

As separately reported by LBREPORT.com, a new political committee recently surfaced (paperwork filed Oct. 18) with last-minute messaging portraying both BBB and DDD as civil rights/voting rights matters.

Sponsor

Sponsor

Sponsor

Sponsor

Sponsor

Support really independent news in Long Beach. No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to incumbent Long Beach officials, development interests, advocacy groups or other special interests; or is seeking or receiving benefits of City development-related decisions; or holds a City Hall appointive position; or has contributed sums to political campaigns for Long Beach incumbents or challengers. LBREPORT.com isn't part of an out of town corporate cluster and no one its ownership, editorial or publishing decision making has been part of the governing board of any City government body or other entity on whose policies we report. LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. You can help keep really independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.