Rudd Running For
City Council Seat

By Kurt Helin
Editor

Justin Rudd, the man behind the 30-minute beach cleanups, the numerous Haute Dog events and an advocate on a number of other issues, has taken on a new campaign.

He wants to be a City Councilman.

Rudd has announced he will seek the Third District City Council seat, filing his papers by Friday.

“I’ve lived here about 10 years and gotten involved in a number of issues...” Rudd said. “I think it’s just time to try to do it from the inside.”

Rudd becomes the fifth person to announce for the seat. Gary DeLong was the first to announce, and he was joined last year by Charles Legeman and Norm Ryan, as well as attorney A. Stephanie Loftin, who also announced last week. Loftin is well known for her pro bono work as a lawyer.

Rudd said he had been considering a run for a while, but the recent controversy surrounding a new city dog breeding ordinance is what pushed him to run. While he has been one of the most prominent faces of dog and pet issues in the city, he had not been contacted about the ordinance and only learned about it through the newspaper.

“Something like that is too important not to reach out to the community and get input,” Rudd said.

Rudd will host a kickoff party at 6 p.m. next Thursday at Lucille’s on Second Street.

Rudd is well behind other candidates in setting up their campaign — DeLong announced he would seek the seat almost a year ago. Rudd said he is interviewing potential campaign managers and will host his first fundraiser next week, but added he doesn’t feel like he’s getting a late start for the April election.

“I’m just now announcing, but I’ve been running since I got here a decade ago,” said Rudd, whose twin brother, Jason, is a City Commissioner (the equivalent of Long Beach’s council) in Dothan, Ala.

The five candidates for the Third District seat are running to replace two-term incumbent Frank Colonna (who is running for mayor after being termed out of the council seat). Rudd is joining candidates who have been out meeting with community groups and walking the district.

DeLong has already secured the endorsement of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce as well as Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe.

The battle has heated up enough that candidates are starting to send out competing press releases. When Ryan sent out one saying his polling showed he is the presumptive frontrunner, DeLong’s camp countered with a release of a poll that showed their candidate had a double-digit lead.

No one will know for sure how voters will respond until they go to the polls April 11. If none of the five candidates can secure more than 50% of the votes, there will be a June runoff between the top two finishers.

(top) or (home page)