Race for City Court judge heats up

The race for Long Beach City Court judge is on, with Republican-backed challenger Ted Hommel looking to unseat incumbent Judge Roy Tepper — a Democrat who has held his seat for nearly 30 years — in the hopes of winning a 10-year term on Nov. 5.

Last week, Hommel clinched the majority of 79 votes in the Long Beach Independence Party primary, 68 percent to Tepper’s 31 percent.

Tepper is a lifelong Long Beach resident and a former Long Beach lifeguard captain who has served the city for nearly 35 years, first as a City Councilman and two-term City Council President. For the last 27 years, Tepper has served as the city’s full-time City Court Judge.

After graduating from Long Beach High School, Tepper received a B.A. from Michigan State University. In 1970, he graduated from Brooklyn Law School with a law degree.

Hommel, also a lifelong Long Beach resident, is a practicing attorney with more than 35 years of legal experience serving in a number of capacities, including as a Deputy Nassau County Attorney, assistant corporation counsel in Long Beach and as an attorney in private practice with experience in criminal, real estate, labor and corporate law. According to his bio, he has also handled vehicle and traffic law, city code enforcement prosecution and commercial transactions including contracts and lease agreements, as well as other municipal law.