Along with the many ballot measures and prospective office holders, this current election season will also decide who is the next mayor of Long Beach.
Two Long Beach City Council members are currently running to be mayor. Both Rex Richardson of district 9 and Suzie Price of district 3 have raised over $400,000 for their campaigns so far. Among the hundreds of donors are accounts connected to Richardson and Price’s fellow city council members.
The donations from council members were either personal donations made as individuals or donations made from their officeholder accounts.
Each council member has an officeholder account, which accepts donations from individuals and organizations. Councilmembers can use these funds for expenses during their time in office, such as community events or work-related travel. In 2017, the council voted 5-3 to allow council members to use funds from their officeholder accounts to donate to other politicians’ campaigns. .
According to the City’s Campaign Ethics Guide, $900 is the maximum amount an individual or organization can donate to a Long Beach mayoral campaign.
A list of donations to either Richardson or Price from Long Beach City Council members is as follows:
Richardson’s donors:
Mary Zendejas for City Council 2019 Officeholder Account – $900
Cindy Allen City Council Officeholder Committee 2020 – $900
Suely Saro for Long Beach City Council Officeholder – $900
Roberto Uranga – $450
Price’s donors:
Al Austin – $250
Daryl Supernaw – $900
Stacy Mungo – $500
The only council members who responded to the Signal Tribune’s request for comment were Daryl Supernaw and Stacy Mungo, both of whom support Price.
“If I had to pick a single issue that was most important to my residents, it would be the issues surrounding homelessness,” Supernaw said. “And I think of what [Price has] done in Orange County and she leads teams in homelessness in Orange County from her job there. Orange County’s numbers are down 1[7]%. The numbers for people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach are up 62%. So I would love for her to bring what they’re doing in Orange County to Long Beach and see if we can start to solve our issues on that.”
“I was honored to host a meet and greet for my friend and colleague Suzie Price in support of her becoming our Mayor,” Mungo said in a statement emailed to the Signal Tribune.
Residents have until Nov. 8 to stop by the polls or turn in their mail-in ballot. A full list of ballot drop-off locations can be found on the Signal Tribune’s Instagram page.
Suzie Price is beholden to no one, which makes her the right choice for this city, which has so much cronyism that absolutely smacks of corruption. Rex Richardson is part of Garcia’s “machine” and is a lobbyist by trade. He has too many people that he “owes” for their endorsements. We need better representation at city hall; Price listens to the public. She came to my building and listened when we told her about Metro’s policy of dumping 50-100 people in DTLB every single night when they take rail cars for cleaning. That alone determined my vote.