It's time for a Long Beach council member to spill the beans

We need a pal on the City Council. Ain’t too proud to beg. We’ve always had a council confidant, if not the mayor outright, who would dish dirt for a column. Someone who would call us in the middle of the night to drop a dime on a fellow council member, spilling some snark on a person of power in town.

Of course, it’s always been in our pals’ best interests to torpedo these people of power, but we can live with that – and the bouquets and booze bottles of appreciation that follow.

Right now, we’ve got nothing. We can’t get anything out of Mayor Robert Garcia but a caed quote or an off-the-record bottle of IPA, which we don’t even like, probably because we’re not a viceroy in 19th-century Uttar Pradesh.

We don’t think Rex Richardson or Stacy Mungo are going to do any off-the-record singing. Richardson we kind of cooled on after his library-naming grandstanding stunt. We like Michelle Obama, probably more than would be deemed tasteful. She’s the best first lady since Mamie Eisenhower. Nobody’s ever goa beat Mamie Eisenhower.

We’re never going to forget Richardson’s quote when the council voted to name the new Northtown Library after Mrs. Obama: “This has been an exercise in democracy and the civic process that won’t be soon forgotten.” What was this? VE Day? Sounds like something you broadcast from the fantail of an aircraft carrier.

We were hoping for a council insider/pal in Daryl Supeaw, whom we gloriously swept into office with a column declaring him to be the superior candidate when he was ruing for office, even though he was avidly supported by Chamber of Commerce boss Randy Gordon, with whom we rarely agree.

We supported Supeaw because he grew up and still lives in the district he represents. But nothing but crickets from the guy. Clarence Thomas makes more of a racket on the Supreme Court than Supeaw’s made in council chambers.

Patrick McDoell, whose council seat Supeaw bagged, was a pal. Now Patrick is in the Assembly, we don’t hear from him, which is cool because who cares about the Assembly?

Who else we got? Stacy Mungo doesn’t bother us too much, yet, but we were a Carl Kemp backer during the last 5th District election. In fact, we threw ourself out of the race when Kemp entered. Not sure Mungo trusts us. Plus, no news has ever come out of the Fightin’ 5th unless film companies are blowing things up. She could’ve given us a heads-up on that. Failed.

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Dee Andrews? We’ve told him more stuff than he’s told us. Never have heard a word from Lena Gonzalez or Roberto Uranga or Al Austin.

Suja has spoken to us a few times and has even bordered perilously on helpfulness. And Suzie Price is nice, but nice doesn’t pay our bills.

Whatever happened to leaking stories to the local columnist like the olden days (a year or two ago)? Ratting out your colleagues? Bean-spilling is a lost art with this council.

Is it all about transparency and opeess? No one’s ever built a freeway with frankness and honesty.

Fill a room with cigar smoke sometime. Build a bridge to success with the corpses of your enemies. Then give us a call. We never close.

Contact Tim Grobaty at 562-714-2116, [email protected], @grobaty on Twitter.

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