So you want to go into politics, huh?
If you follow the news, you clearly know all of the glamour, prestige and downright adoration that comes with a political career. Then there’s the power – oh, the power!
Well, there’s an opening into what might be considered entry-level politics, and the time to strike is now.
It’s called the municipal election. And City Clerk Monique DeLaGarza opened the nomination period on Monday, Feb. 9.
While they call it a nomination, it’s really that time when candidates file to get their name on the primary ballot. It takes 10 signatures from people registered to vote in Long Beach on the nomination form and some time to complete the paperwork.
Every four years, all the citywide offices are up for election, as well as the odd-numbered City Council districts, and this is the year. If you live in an even-numbered council district, you’ll have to wait two more years before you get a shot at being on the council – and everyone wants to be on the council, right?
(If you’re more interested in education, there are board elections for our school district and city college, but you don’t get your name in the paper nearly as often as city officials do.)
Anyone who lives in the city can run for mayor this year, or for city attorney, city prosecutor or city auditor. It might be a good idea to have a law degree to be the attorney or prosecutor, and some accounting experience doesn’t hurt when running for auditor, but those are not requirements. And there aren’t any requirements at all to be mayor!
Well, that’s not quite true. You have to be a registered voter living in Long Beach for all the positions, and that entails age requirements. Still, you don’t have to have a high school diploma to run.
Notice I said run, not win.
If your sole goal in life is to see your name on the ballot, that can be accomplished with relatively little effort. But if you actually want to get a job, it takes a bit more.
That’s especially true this year in Long Beach city politics. All but one of the nine city offices up for grabs this year has an incumbent running again – that’s someone who already has the job and has another term or two left before term limits get them.
The only exception to this situation is in the Seventh City Council District, where Roberto Uranga will be stepping down. Roberto has soldiered on through some serious personal trauma over the years, as well as some significant health issues. I applaud his perseverance and care for the city.
But his colleagues in the First, Third, Fifth and Ninth districts (Mary Zendejas, Kristina Duggan, Megan Kerr and Dr. Joni Ricks-Oddie) are all seeking four more years. So is Mayor Rex Richardson, City Attorney Dawn McIntosh, City Prosecutor Doug Haubert and City Auditor Laura Doud.
Side note: In a quirk of the city’s term limit laws, the attorney, prosecutor and auditor don’t have a limit on the number of terms they serve, and both Doud and Haubert have been in office for a long time – 20 and 16 years, respectively.
What does this all mean to your political aspirations? A lot.
I’ve been watching elections for a year or two, and I can tell you it is a rare day indeed when an incumbent is upset and ousted from office. If I remember correctly, it’s happened in Long Beach twice in the 34 years I’ve been around, and in both cases it was a pretty special situation.
Incumbents just have so many advantages when it comes to elections. The biggest one is name recognition – and the ability to list the position they hold as their occupation on the ballot. It’s human nature to maintain the status quo unless there’s a compelling reason to do otherwise.
That name recognition also means connections, which are key for fundraising and endorsements. It takes a lot of money to pay for hit pieces trying to destroy your opponent, you know.
Thank goodness there are some restrictions incumbents are “required” to follow. They’re not supposed to use city staff (at least during work hours) or city equipment to campaign, for example. They can’t gather a bunch of police officers or firefighters in uniform for campaign pictures.
And incumbents do have to defend whatever it is they’ve already done while they have been in office. That can be a concern, especially if they’ve actually done something.
You still want to give it a shot, you say? Then check in with City Clerk Monique DeLaGarza soon. The nominating period ends March 6 – and getting on the ballot after that is a real struggle.
Who knows? This may be your first step to becoming President of the United States – as if anyone would actually want to do that.