LONG BEACH : Mayoral Race Draws 20 Possible Challengers

If Mayor Ernie Kell thought he had his hands full the last time he ran for office in 1990, this time he had better wear a catcher’s mitt. In 1990, eight people ran against Kell and the mayor came so close to losing to Councilman Thomas Clark that Kell gave a concession speech before learning that the last ballots had given him the edge.

This time nearly 20 people have announced that they intend to run for Kell’s job, and a dozen have taken out papers. The deadline for returning the papers is Friday. The election is scheduled for April 12, and a runoff election will be held in June if no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes.

Among the familiar faces are Vice Mayor Jeffrey A. Kellogg, Councilman Ray Grabinski, Beverly O’Neill, former Long Beach City College president, and Don Westerland, former redevelopment agency chairman. Both Dan Rosenberg, a frequent City Council critic, and Thomas (Ski) Demski, the bearded superpatriot who ran against Kell in 1990, are making another run.

“It’s a huge field,” said Bill Joder, deputy city clerk. “We have the young and the old, women and men, the habitual challengers and some serious contenders.”

Kell says he has a strategy to handle them all. But it’s a secret, of course.

Next to Kell, Councilman Warren Harwood probably will face the most opposition in April’s election. Eight people have taken out papers to run against him, including Jerry Shultz, a former Long Beach Unified School District board member, and community activist Rod Givens.