By Doug Miller
The Long Beach Republicans have called on the city's Democrats to denounce a piece of literature claiming that the Superblock project was "pushed through" by Republicans. And, oddly enough, one Democrat did.
In a confrontation in City Manager Charles Theofan's office Tuesday night before the City Council meeting, Republican Councilman Tom Sofield demanded to know if Democrat Leonard Remo, who is seeking re-election next Tuesday, would stand by the literature.
In front of several witnesses and a member of the press, Remo said he would not.
But, he said, "This is the first time I've read this, and had nothing to do with it." He deferred all further questions about the piece to Long Beach Democratic Chairman Joshua Ketover, who was not available for comment.
The offending paragraph reads: "The Republicans pushed through a plan to build a huge beachfront development that would ruin beach views, create traffic and congestion problems and endanger the environmental balance of our beaches. And until the developer, who stands to make millions on the project, volunteered to pay market value, the Republicans were going to sell them the land at a [sic] $8 million loss to taxpayers."
The paragraph, Remo conceded, is not truthful. The city was going to sell the land to the developer at a substantial loss, but the Republicans on the City Council renegotiated the terms, assuring that the developer paid market value. How voluntary the developer's decision was is uncertain.
And the Republicans pointed out that Remo ultimately voted with them on the Superblock.
The confrontation led to chest-beating by Republicans. "The voters of Long Beach have a right to know that Mr. Remo himself conceded in your presence that the Democratic campaign is based upon a foundation of lies and half-truths," Sofield wrote in an e-mail to the Herald Wednesday morning.
Remo responded that it was one line in one mailing, not "the Democratic campaign" that he was distancing himself from.
Sofield also called for the Herald to renounce its endorsement of Remo and his running mate, Denise Tangney. The Herald also endorsed Remo and Tangney's Republican opponent, Mona Goodman, for the other available seat on the council.
Late Wednesday, Remo provided his own take on the campaign's library of exchanged literature, which included several GOP mailings that he said were false or misleading.
Remo claimed, for instance, that the GOP's boast of removing dead former city employees from the benefits roll included a greater number of employees with each telling: "... And who can forget the more than 99 employees who were dead or otherwise ineligible for whom the city had been paying health insurance premiums at a cost of over $57,000 per month. That's almost $700,000 per year of your tax dollars!"
"Every time I asked for a list, going back to [former City Manager] Glen Spiritis, of those more than 99 people, no one could produce it," Remo said. "They cannot to this day."
Remo then said he was not satisfied that the $6.2 million deficit the Republicans claimed they have paid off had ever existed. "I have been given documentation, for which I am working on third-party corroboration, that seems to show that the Democrats left a surplus at the beginning of 2004, and that the Republicans caused a deficit," he said.
Sofield responded that the GOP had satisfied Remo's request for an explanation for those numbers by giving him a meeting with the city's comptroller and an independent auditor.
"The books are closed on this," Sofield said. "They showed him the books and they both confirmed it. Lenny's been shown the truth but refuses to see it."
Remo, for his part, said he wasn't letting the tone of the campaign get to him.
"Hey, it's a political campaign. If I can take it professionally, why can't anyone else?" Remo said. "But my mom is pissed."
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