Long Beach : Council Race Endorsements

A pair of politically active organizations--Long Beach Area Citizens Involved and the Downtown Long Beach Associates--have endorsed City Council candidates for the June 3 general election.

Also, two candidates who failed to qualify for the runoff election have made endorsements: William Burford said he will support Ray Grabinski instead of Councilwoman Eunice Sato in District 7, while E. W. (Bud) Huber Jr. is backing Councilwoman Jan Hall over Jim Serles in District 3.

Citizens Involved, which supported unsuccessful candidate Jenny Oropeza in the District 1 primary, said it now supports Evan Anderson Braude, stepson of Rep. Glenn M. Anderson, (D-Harbor City). The organization said Braude, who ran a virtual dead heat with Ron Batson in the primary, comes the “closest to endorsing most of our platform.” It said the council does not need “any more special-interest, big-business oriented” members. It noted that Batson is supported by Rep. Daniel E. Lungren (R-Long Beach) and Assemblyman Dennis Brown (R-Signal Hill).

The political action committee of Downtown Long Beach Associates, a business-oriented group, split its endorsement between Batson and Braude--the first time it has ever made such a move--and said it will contribute $1,000 to each.

“Never before have we had two candidates with such similar positions on all the major issues,” said Bill Gurzi, chairman of the political action committee.