Cory Bilicko:
Managing Editor
The special election, which will determine the new councilmember who will serve from May 2015 to July 2016, will not include a runoff and is expected to cost the City of Long Beach about $200,000, according to the city clerk’s office. The 4th District, which includes about 27,000 registered voters, stretches from Los Altos on the east to Cambodia Town on the west, encompassing sections of Pacific Coast Highway and Anaheim Street, which includes the Zafaria business corridor.
The three candidates who have qualified for a place on the ballot are: Herlinda Chico, a public-affairs specialist; Richard Lindemann, a retired retail-sales manager; and Daryl Supernaw, a business consultant.
Although both Chico and Lindemann are registered Democrats, a recent letter the City’s police and fire department unions sent on stationery with Mayor Robert Garcia’s letterhead inaccurately indicates that Chico is the “only Democrat running” in the special election. Despite confirmation from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Office that Lindemann is indeed a registered Democrat, nowhere on his campaign website is that party affiliation stated. Instead, it reads, “I am a fiscal conservative/social liberal, living an eco-friendly lifestyle.” Supernaw’s party affiliation on record is “decline to state,” according to the County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Office.
Campaign finances
According to the city clerk’s website, Chico has been surpassing her opponents in campaign contributions and spending.
Chico’s April 2 campaign statement indicates that her total contributions for the calendar year to date are $47,755.67 and her total expenditures for the same period are $51,523.81.
Her contributors include individuals, businesses and other special-interest groups, and her largest donor groups are Democratic clubs and the political-action committees (PACs) designated as “recipient committees” on the campaign-finance report.
She has spent more than $13,000 on campaign consultants and has emphasized having a “strong team” behind her.
“Having worked on several campaigns, I know that if I was going to do this, I was going to be very serious about running a campaign,” she told the Signal Tribune last month. “And that’s why I hired the people that I did.”
Her fundraising efforts began considerably earlier than those of Lindemann and Supernaw, and she raised a significant amount last year. According to her campaign-finance report, as of Dec. 31, 2014, she had raised a total of $8,274.90 from individual donors and one business entity.
As reported in the March 20 issue of the Signal Tribune, Lindemann is not obligated to submit campaign-finance reports because he is not planning to raise or spend more than $1,000, a fact that Poonam Davis of the city clerk’s department has confirmed. Lindemann said he is only spending about $750 of his own funds and is not seeking contributions from unions or PACs.
“If you’re being bought and paid for by the PAC, you aren’t worth it to the district, and that’s how I feel,” Lindemann told the Signal Tribune in March. “And that’s what my whole campaign is based on!.doing whatever is right for the district.”
He added that he began his campaign by concentrating on increasing voter turnout, especially on the west side of the district. He said that he is walking through his district and talking to residents about their concerns.
Supernaw’s April 2 campaign statement shows $25,159 in total contributions and $5,685.65 in expenditures for the calendar year to date.
His monetary contributions include a significant amount that he personally invested into his own campaign, including $2,885 to cover some of the initial filing fees needed to run in the election. He said these funds had to be paid out of his own pocket before he was able to form a campaign committee. Supernaw added that the amount also includes the extra fee required for a Khmer translation of his candidate statement on the ballot.
The majority of his contributions were from individuals and businesses.
In an interview last month with the Signal Tribune, Supernaw highlighted his ability in the 2012 election to win a primary on a small budget, since he did not have a mail campaign when he ran against two well-funded candidates during his first attempt at the 4th District Council seat. Later that year, Supernaw lost to O’Donnell, who ran a write-in campaign.
“It’s just that I was able to accomplish a lot without a lot of money before, so I feel very fortunate that I have funding this time so I can get the word out to more people,” he told the Signal Tribune, adding that he has had more money this time in the budget for a mail campaign.
In early March, LBReport.com published a story indicating that Chico had become delinquent on her mortgage. According to LBReport.com, she paid $7,732 towards the $305,000 loan for a home she bought in 2010. Three years later, she borrowed $20,634 in a separate loan through the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA), but last year she was sent a notice of default indicating that she was delinquent in the amount of $11,164, according to the story.
In an interview with the Signal Tribune, Chico didn’t dispute the details as reported by the local news website, however, she did provide an explanation of what had happened in the years she fought to keep her first home.
She described a challenging period in her life when she had separated from her fiancé of 13 years and then faced an “immediate loss of income.” Additionally, she said she also faced unexpected medical costs and veterinarian expenses. She acknowledged that when she fell behind financially, it happened gradually, and she soon discovered that although she had been trying to get caught up on her payments, she wasn’t able to do so and became delinquent.
“[It] has nothing to do with mismanaging money, like some people have tried to insinuate,” Chico told the Signal Tribune. “It was just a circumstance I found myself in. The good thing is!that through strict budgeting and working with my mortgage company, I was able to work myself out of it. I’m completely caught up. I am in good standing with my mortgage company. I am not delinquent at all! I owe no money to any third party. There is nothing like that. I am in good standing. I’m caught up.”
However, Lindemann said Chico’s explanation made “no sense,” and he questioned why someone would run for office if she couldn’t keep her finances in order.
“Your ethics or your code of living transfers into your business life too,” Lindemann said, “and that’s no matter what field you’re in.”
Supernaw declined to comment on Chico’s mortgage problems, as both he and Chico have stated they want to focus on running positive campaigns.
Debating the issues
During a candidate forum in late February at the Long Beach Playhouse, the three city council hopefuls discussed topics that focused primarily on increasing taxes, regulating medical marijuana and adding international flights at the airport.
Chico stated that she is a 15-year resident of Long Beach who has been involved in business-improvement districts and local nonprofits while working for five different cities, giving her “the understanding of the way city governments work.”
Lindemann said that, while he appears to be the “dark horse” in the race, his goal is to make sure the entire district is represented, particularly the west side, where he lives, noting that there should be an increased police presence in the area.
Supernaw touted his spearheading or involvement in a lengthy list of projects, adding that he nearly won the last election through a “grassroots” campaign without any endorsements after being heavily involved in the community.
The candidates agreed on not supporting rent control and endorsing the City’s proposal to impose a mandatory spay-and-neuter policy for pets, but they differed when asked if they would support increasing the utility users tax (UUT) and/or sales tax in Long Beach to balance the budget.
Chico said she’s not in favor of raising taxes, adding, however, that the City should have some “tough conversations” ahead as it tries to balance the budget this year. The City’s financial management, for instance, has forecast less one-time revenues because of the drop in oil prices while warning about rising costs for employee pensions. Chico said raising the UUT should be a last resort, adding that the City should first identify inefficiencies. She noted, however, that voters in the City of Commerce, where she works, recently increased their sales tax by half a cent.
Lindemann partially agreed with Chico on the issue but stated that he’s “basically against” raising taxes, “unless they show me otherwise.”
Supernaw, however, disagreed with Chico, adding that 70 percent of registered voters in Long Beach voted down a past proposal to raise the UUT.
“Utility-users tax and sales tax both, by definition, are regressive taxes,” he said. “They affect the poor far more than any other segment of society.”
He said the City should focus instead on creating a more “robust economy” and investigate new revenue streams, such as corporate sponsorships. He described “public-sector unions” as the group that supports raising taxes, implying they would not have to give up as much on retirement plans. Supernaw said that, although he is against raising taxes, he’s not anti-union and that his father was a Long Beach firefighter and his mother and wife have Public Employee Retirement System pensions.
There was also some difference of opinion when the candidates were asked whether they support Measure N, a ballot measure that voters passed in Long Beach in 2012 raising wages for hotel workers to $13 an hour and imposing a 2-percent annual raise thereafter, on hotels that choose not to unionize. The candidates were also asked whether they would support a similar ballot measure for restaurant workers.
Lindemann said he voted against Measure N, adding that such ballot measures become a “neverending cycle.” Supernaw said he’s also against the measure, adding that the issue is too big for any one industry. Chico, however, said she supports Measure N, adding, though, that different stakeholders should be able to provide input.
On the issue of adding international flights, Chico said she supports the concept but is committed to protecting the City’s noise ordinance and is fearful of opening up new litigation, adding that the City should be “cautious in moving forward.” She said “significant impacts on the health and safety of our residents” would “always take precedence.” Lindemann said he also supports international flights at the airport but echoed Chico’s concerns of safeguarding the City’s noise ordinance, adding that the issue needs to be “vetted very, very carefully.” Supernaw said he would defer to the judgment of Assistant City Attorney Michael Mais and City Prosecutor Doug Haubert on the issue. Supernaw added, however, that there are “some issues and some inherent threats with bringing international flights forward.”
Regarding the medical marijuana issue and whether they support having collectives in Long Beach, all candidates said they are not personally involved in the medical marijuana discourse. Chico said the City should be “proactive and not reactive,” predicting that California voters will likely pass a marijuana initiative in 2016 and that the City should work with law-enforcement and city staff to come up with “very, very tough regulations so that we have a stronghold in this business that will likely come into our community.” Lindemann said that while the smell of marijuana makes him “nauseous,” he supports its regulation, adding that the City should “support it, control it, tax it” and “make sure people who need it or want it can get it,” adding that the City needs to determine which areas of the city would be best to make it available. Supernaw said he’s for “compassionate use,” but he added that the issue is so complex that the City may have to “go back to the drawing board” if the Council drafts a new ordinance on it.
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For more information about the April 14 special election to elect a new 4th District councilmember, visit longbeach.gov/cityclerk/election .
*Additional reporting by Sean Belk and CJ Dablo
