A Leadership Long Beach-sponsored forum at the downtown library on March 2 included each candidate whose name will be on the April 12 ballot, as well as a write-in candidate for city council.
Those campaigning for two Long Beach City College Board of Trustees positions, two Long Beach Unified School District Governing Board spots and three city council seats were in attendance at the event. Moderator John Glaza, a graduate of Leadership Long Beach, led the event, which was also organized by the Long Beach Public Library, Long Beach Community Action Partnership, Public Access Digital Network and Palacio Magazine.
Daryl Supernaw, the current 4th District councilmember who was unopposed in seeking a second term but was recently granted that seat by the city council, was also at the event and spoke briefly to those in attendance.
As Glaza had done with candidates for other seats, he began by asking each of the city council candidates to choose one of Leadership Long Beach’s 14 principles and explain why it is important to them. The 14 principles the nonprofit embraces are integrity, teamwork, respect, values, compassion, accountability, vision, personal responsibility, ethics, commitment, courage, congruence, service and trusteeship.
District 6
The portion focusing on 6th District candidates Dee Andrews, Robert Harmon, Erik Miller and Josephine Villasenor began with each responding to the question Glaza had posed to the others regarding the principle they believe is most important.
Harmon chose integrity. “They’re all important here, but, as a rookie politician and learning the ropes, and learning how politics works as an outsider, and learning as someone who wants to do good for the community, by all the people, I really think integrity is the most important of all virtues when one is entering this realm,” Harmon said. “I believe it’s more than just a word. It’s something that is a driving force, it’s a moral compass, it defines a person and you’ve got to do the right thing all the time.”
Villasenor picked courage. “You have to have courage to stand up to the gangs,” she said. “You have to have courage to stand up for your community.” She added that she is a stage-2 cervical cancer survivor and a fighter.
Miller said that, when it comes to leadership, the most important trait is accountability.
“I think that everybody goes into a leadership role with goals and principles, but it’s really the transparency of owning those goals and showing people that, ‘Yes, I was successful there, and I wasn’t successful there’ that is really where you embody the true aspects of leadership,” he said.
Andrews, who is running as a write-in candidate to serve a third term as the 6th District candidate, chose service.
“You have to reach out to your community and the people that live there to let them know you’re there and you’re going to fight for them,” Andrews said.
District 8
When it was the 8th District candidates’ turn to respond to the question about principles, Angel went with respect.
“It’s respecting the process, respecting citizens, respecting each other, respecting your neighborhoods, your colleagues, the public when they come to speak to the city council, listening to what they have to say, deliberating on what they have to say, and respecting quality of life,” Angel said. “All of the elements that occur and how they affect each of the areas is respecting each other in terms of ensuring that we have a quality of life and that not one area is unduly affected over another.”
Austin said the trait that stands out to him the most is courage.
“I think it takes a lot of courage, number one, to run for public office or to even serve in public office,” he said. “You stand in the limelight. Every word you say is scrutinized by the public and the press. But courage, I think, is extremely important for us— and for me as an elected official— particularly representing a district like the 8th District, that is one of the most economically diverse districts, if not the most economically diverse district, in the city. And so, invariably, no decision is going to make everybody happy, right?— when you have a district like my district. I strive to have balance and to make decisions that I believe are in the best interest of my district at all times.”
Turnbow chose accountability. He said it is important for a councilmember to connect with every neighborhood in the district.
“I want to bring forums,” he said. “I want to bring townhall meetings. I want to bring longstanding places— whether it’s a coffee shop in all the neighborhoods— where we can connect with our city council and with our government. I want to make sure that every voice is being heard across that very diverse district of ours.”
He added that he and his wife Michelle have knocked on almost 2,000 doors. “It’s what you do when you run an election, but it’s also what you do when you want to know what everyone thinks,” he said. “And with 1,900 doors by the two of us knocked on, we’re finding out what people care about and how to connect.”
To read more information about the candidates, see “8th District candidates debate neighborhood, citywide issues at forum” on page 7 of this week’s issue. (Part one of that story is available at signaltribunenewspaper.com/?p=30404 .) Information about the candidates is also available in the Signal Tribune’s special “Meet the Candidates” sections in the Feb. 26 and March 4 issues.
