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Mostly Cloudy Long Beach City Council debate illustrates political divide
Democratic, Coalition candidates differ over governing styles — and who is to blame for the current rift on the council
While few political and personal barbs were exchanged between the six City Council candidates at the Oct. 20 Candidates’ Forum at the Long Beach Public Library, the criticism that did arise seemed to illustrate what many say is a rift between the two Democrats and three Republican-led coalition members in the majority.
Democratic incumbent Len Torres claims that he and fellow council member Mike Fagen, who is not up for re-election this year, have essentially been shut out of the governing process by the administration and that Freedom of Information requests have largely been ignored.
City Council President Tom Sofield Jr. and Vice President Mona Goodman, who are both up for re-election, dismissed those claims. When all of the candidates were asked how they would work across party lines after the election, their running mate, coalition candidate Marvin Weiss, said that he would work to communicate with the public and fellow members of the council, regardless of political affiliations, similar to the political style of former Democratic City Councilman Lenny Remo, whom he said often reached across party lines.
“Be smart about it, have open conversation with each other and the community to get things accomplished,” Weiss said.
Sofield said that during the eight years that he has been on the council, he has demonstrated an ability to work across party lines. Sofield said that during those years when he was in both the minority and majority, arguments between he and other council members like Remo would arise, but explained that those debates were “healthy.” Sofield and Goodman said that attempts were made to work with Fagen and Torres when they were first elected in 2009, but that those efforts were unsuccessful.
“When the current minority on the council was elected, Mr. Fagen and Mr. Torres, as the president of the council, I felt that it was incumbent upon me to attempt to continue the conversation,” Sofield said. “I asked them to meet with us before the [City Council] meetings, to sit down and talk about ideas.”
