GARCIA’S GOT HIS REASONS: FIRST NATURE CALLED, THEN HIS FAMILY
By Dave Wielenga
Suddenly, everybody wants 2nd district councilmember Suja Lowenthal to be the Vice Mayor of Long Beach.
Well, not technically everybody—not according to the official record. Tuesday night’s (July 27) unanimous vote by the Long Beach City Council did not include 1st district councilmember Robert Garcia.
Despite Mayor Bob Foster’s specific instruction that council members arrive on time for the Special Meeting he had called to settle the previously stalemated debate over who—Lowenthal or Patrick O’Donnell—should be vice mayor, Garcia finally wandered in 40 seconds after everything had been settled.
No, he didn’t have to pee—that was Garcia’s explanation the last time he mysteriously missed a controversial council vote.
Remember? On April 20, Garcia left the Council Chamber for approximately eight minutes, missing the entire debate over a request from the powerful Bancap Investment Group for a rent reduction on city land it sublets to the Seal Beach Yacht Club. During a time of drastic cutbacks in city services, it wasn’t a popular request, but the council eventually approved it, 7-1.
About 30 seconds after the vote, Garcia meandered back into council chamber and took his seat. Asked by LBReport.com about his absence, Garcia replied by e-mail that he had to use the restroom.
On Tuesday night (July 27), Garcia said that a phone call with somebody in his family kept him from answering the roll call for a Special Meeting that had been scheduled by the mayor for 4:45 p.m. to settle a rancorous fight over the Vice Mayor position.
The position somewhat traditionally goes to the councilmember with the most accumulated service; this time that is 8th district representative Rae Gabelich, but she declined. Next in line is O’Donnell, of the 4th district.
But then Lowenthal’s ambition kicked in, and for at least the last two months she has been assembling a coalition to install her in the position. Things got ugly. On July 20, at the very first meeting of the just-seated city council that will need every bit of mutual good will it can muster to deal with the massive economic problems facing Long Beach, things disintegrated into a series of polarizing votes over the vice mayorship.
Then, one week later, things got unanimous. The Special Meeting lasted less than two minutes. Lowenthal was nominated, O’Donnell wasn’t. There was no council discussion. There was no public comment. There was an 8-0 vote to confirm Lowenthal as vice mayor.
About 40 seconds after the vote, Garcia strolled back into the council chamber and took his seat. Asked by LBReport.com where he was and why he wasn’t present for the vote, Garcia replied via an e-mailed statement from an aide: “I missed the start of the meeting and the vote by a few minutes because I was taking a family call. I was surprised when I came in that it was over so quickly. My congratulations to Vice-Mayor Lowenthal on her election.”
Contacted by telephone Wednesday night, Garcia downplayed everything—not just his absence during the vote, but also the controversy surrounding it.
“I don’t think it was particularly controversial,” he said. “It seemed to me that it was a bigger deal in the media than it really was. In reality, I think both Patrick [O’Donnell] and Suja [Lowenthal] would have been great vice mayors.”
Garcia said the deciding factor in his support for Lowenthal was that “she asked me first.”
Of course, that support never became an official vote—there will never be a record of Garcia’s position on this matter. No big deal, unless down the political road that Lowenthal, O’Donnell and Garcia are mapping for themselves it turns out to be.
Garcia insists missing the vote was a quirk, not a calculation.
“Normally, meetings start a few minutes late—so I took a call, sat down, and when I got to the council meeting the vote was over,” Garcia said. “I went to the Mayor and asked to make a motion to reconsider—basically, a re-vote—so my vote would be counted.
“But [Councilmember Dee] Andrews had left, so had we re-voted his vote wouldn’t have counted. So we left it as it is.”
20 Comments
ridiculous excuses. this guy is a total disappointment.
If Councilman Garcia made a motion to reconsider the vote that occurred without him, was his motion entered into the record? Also, why is Garcia asking the Mayor’s permission whether he can make such a motion? As a Councilperson, isn’t it his right and responsibility to do so? If anyone should have been asked whether he could make such a motion, shouldn’t it have been the City Attorney who decides such matters and not the Mayor?
Moreover, why would Councilman Garcia use the criteria of WHO TALKED TO HIM FIRST for selecting his position on an issue? In his position, shouldn’t Garcia be selecting the alternative that would BEST SERVE the public?
Things aren’t always as they seem, especially in our esteemed City Council, but sometimes they are.
I’m with Councilman Garcia on this one. All of the interest in his absence during the Vice Mayor vote was (and is) much ado about nothing. He’s on record supporting the selection of Councilwoman Lowenthal for the position and he has publicly congratulated her since she received the appointment.
It’s done, move on already.
Surely the Council has some profitable and legal marketing concept to ban (a la Big Box), some lucrative and legal enterprise to enact moratoria against (a la check cashing businesses), some federally unlawful enterprise to tax (a la Medpot) or some lawfully-operating contractor to restrain from doing businsess with the city (a la the EBO.)
one note johnny, new website, same old bs.
I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you
Hi John Greet. Do we also just accept without question how a cantankerous 4-4 tie in the vote for vice-mayor transformed into 8-0 with no public comments from the council? How did that happen unless agreements—or at least discussions—were made in secret? Any chance Garcia’s lack of a vote might have been a reaction to that? You are always advocating vigilance and excoriating citizens for not holding officials accountable. Why the willingness to give a pass on this one?
You are so chock-full of hard-packed mierda, Garcia.
I told you all so back in the District Weekly era.
Dave, you asked John Greet “Why?” !!!!
What does anyone expect from a republican turned democrat randy gordon affiliate shill? Phoney to the max!
Fits right in here in wrong beach.
Hi Mr. W!
First: Let me congratulate you on a most excellent site!
Second: Let me assure you that I won’t make the same mistakes I did in my postings that I did at DW. I wont be engaging with others here who cannot conduct themselves in a courteous and respectful manner.
Third: I think agreements among our Councilmembers concerning who will serve as Vice Mayor have been reached behind the scenes at City Hall for as long as that position has existed. To believe otherwise is, I believe, the height of politcal naivete. It’s clear to me that Dr. Lowenthal wanted to so serve and that Councilman O’Donnell did also but then changed his mind. The person to ask as to why and under what conditions (if any) Mr. O’Donnell chose to change his mind would be better directed at him, not me. My willingness to believe Councilman Garcia is not so much about “giving him a pass” as it is about not really caring overmuch whether he was really willing or able to vote or not. A Vice Mayor was selected. We really ought to move on. Personally, I think two better questions about this chapter in City Hall politics might be why the Council failed to select our Vice Mayor “at the same time that Councilmembers regularly take office for new terms” as Section 202(f) of our City Charter clearly mandates and why neither the Mayor nor the City Attorney nor the Clerk, called them on not having done so.
to Mike Ruehle-I have honestly missed you! How the heck are you?
to John G–nice poem! Did you write that?
and lastly I find it so fricking bizarre how it went from a tie vote one week to unanimous the next? That is really fishy if you ask me.
and then also the other burning question…why is Joe Mack so silent so suddenly? should we be concerned?
I like Mr. Greet’s second comment here much better than the first. However, I don’t know how you get from his first comment to the second if you profess belief in citizen participation in government, make the statement, “It’s done, move on already,” and then proceed to the “two better questions” , which suggest not only that it’s nowhere near time to “move on already,” but that Long Beach city government is deeply broken and in need of our help.
It makes me dizzy. It reminds me why I stopped going to the District Weekly website.
Secretive backscratching dealings among councilmembers IS the problem, and taking those dealings apart in public view, whenever we can identify them, is key to minimizing their impact. Thank you, Dave. If anything, you haven’t gone far enough.
In previous web incarnations, Mr. Greet would respond to a comment like mine with Civics 101 misdirection that used word count to remove oxygen from the discussion. On a functional level, that is the role of a web troll. A loquacious, literate, grammatical web troll, but a web troll nonetheless.
It’s was this repeated unwillingness to acknowledge his own contradictions that made Mr. Greet and his posts such a destructive presence on the District weekly site, IMO.
Mr. Greet, if you’re turning over a leaf and trying to put these corrosive practices of yours behind you, that’s great. Today is the first day of the rest of your life and there is a world of people of goodwill who would like to engage with you but who will never turn off their bullshit detectors — so it’s up to you. I’m an optimist and am anticipating reading your response to this post (should you choose to respond), but will read it carefully to assess its troll quotient and compare it to your previous District Weekly troll quotient score. I’m confident that I won’t be alone in this assessment, so choose your words for maximum impact.
Personally, I’d love to read a frank essay from Mr. Greet that detailed why he left the LB Post as a columnist shortly after that website went through its Young-Republicans-and-Chamber-of-Commerce-join-forces-to-beat-on-Long-Beach-city-employees CityPay fisaco. I have yet to read anything about that chapter of Councilman Garcia’s website that comes close to explaining what actually went down there. Did Councilman Garcia really think that that attack on the rank-and-file improved city government?
Dave, I hope you have a better strategy for dealing with those who would destroy your nascent web community here than the management of the District Weekly did. (And if you think posts like mine are hurting your website, let me know and I’ll stop. I think your site is much needed in town and want to do nothing to impede its success.)
(oh, I feel a little sick, because even though I’m an optimist I can’t help thinking of the likely beside-the-point Mr. Greet post to come, but here goes)
The lbpost is nothing more than a provocative propaganda machine by the wrong beach corporate welfare queens disguised as a “news” source. That gordon is one shrewd SOB!
Hi Piode:
There’s no requirement that our Council avoid behind-the scenes arrangements concerning the Vice Mayor position and there never has been. The only requirement set forth in our Charter is that the Council select this person from among their own and that they do so as and when I previously described. Has anyone ever complained about this fact before now?
If it’s your premise that there *should* be a different requirement, fine, then make that argument and work toward having it added to the Charter. That would be a constructive approach to this challenge. For some to do little more than whine, complain and personally insult the current Vice Mayor is not constructive.
I don’t like the “seniority” criteria for the Vice Mayorship because the most senior Councilperson could very easily be a complete incompetent and do far more harm than good simply by virtue of their seniority. Charles Rangel has served 20 consecutive terms in Congress and look how much nonsense he’s been involved in throughout his career!
This seems to argue for the “best qualified” standard. But Mr. O’Donnell never argued that he was better qualified than Dr. Lowenthal, only that he was more senior. Personally, I think he would have served us very well as Vice Mayor. If he truly believed that, then why did he remove his name from consideration? I’ll tell you why I think he did…because, like me, he’s weary of the current Council’s habit of politicizing quite literally EVERYTHING and he just didn’t want to be a furher party to it in this case. Good for him!
As to the rest of your comments, I’ll keep my word and decline to respond to them or to engage with you about them.
Be well!
Hi John! I’m assuming—and must talk to the City Attorney to be sure—that LB’s City Charter is subservient to the laws of the State of California….including the Brown Act, which mandates (with the exception of certain closed sessions) that decisions made by our public bodies be made in public. That would seem to make illegal the behind-the-scenes selection of the vice mayor; I don’t think that this particular decision is exempted. But I will phone the City Attorney on Monday. As you say, however, it is political naivete to believe that behind-the-scenes decisions are not reached all the time. That does not make it legal.
Greet, what did you step on to get booted as a LBPost columnist? That alone should be newsworthy enough to prompt its own article in the Wall Street Journal.
[...] DAVE WIELENGA’S “GARCIA’S GOT HIS REASONS: FIRST NATURE CALLED, THEN HIS FAMILY,” JULY 28 [...]
Dave: Thanks, I think it would prove instructive to learn what the City Attorney has to say on the matter as well as on the matter of why we didn’t follow the requirements of the Charter as to when the Vice Mayor is supposed to be selected. If either question reveals potential illegality on the part of anyone on our Council, then I think it might be appropriate to notify the State FPPC of that as soon as may be practical. Then again, the FPPC no doubt has it’s hands full with Bell at the moment.
garcia can’t “hold it” forever; he’ll “pee his pants” eventually and show the world what he’s really all about.
[...] GARCIA’S GOT HIS REASONS: FIRST MOTHER NATURE CALLED, THEN HIS FAMILY [Dave Wielenga, July 28] [...]