In the upcoming March 13 elections, all open seats in the city councils of Bell, Cudahy and Huntington Park will be contested.
All three cities have made the headlines in recent years and months because of corruption scandals, city officials’ arrests and recall efforts.
Nine people have pulled candidate papers to run for the Bell City Council.
They are Alicia Romero, Ana Quintana, Danny Harber, Donna Gannon, Donald Tavares, Juan Montanez, Martin Peters, Nora Saenz and Yamel “Jimmy” Mourad, said Rebecca Valdez, Bell city clerk.
As of Dec. 12, three of them had been qualified by the Los Angeles County Registrar’s Office: Peters, Tavares and Montanez, said the city clerk.
Quintana and Harber are current councilmembers running for reelection. They got elected to unexpired terms during a recall election against the entire City Council last year. Those terms end in March.
In Cudahy, ten people pulled paper to run for City Council.
They are: Baru Sanchez, Christopher Garcia, Martin Aguilera, Jack Guerrero, Issac Velasquez, Richard Iglesias, Richard Lara, Alexander Kolosow, Ruben Pivaral and Josue Barrios, according to Angela Bustamante, Cudahy deputy city clerk.
As of yesterday, three of them had been qualified by the Los Angeles County Registrar’s Office: Sanchez, Garcia and Aguilera, said Bustamante, according to the deputy city clerk.
Surprisingly, Barrios, a current councilman who was expected to run for office again, will not run for another full term post. Instead, he has pulled paper for the unexpired term left vacant by Councilman Osvaldo Conde, who left his seat after being arrested in an anti-corruption operation by the FBI this summer. That seat expires in two years.
Other people interested in Conde’s post include Iglesias, Kolosov, Pivaral and Sanchez.
Guerrero is a current councilman who was recently appointed to serve the last few months of the seat vacated by Councilman David Silva, who was also arrested in the FBI sting.
In Huntington Park, four people pulled candidate papers to run for City Council. They are: Valentin Palos Amezquita, Elba Guerrero, Karina Macias and Andy Molina, said Rossana Ramirez, Huntington Park city clerk.
Guerrero and Molina are running for reelection. While they are the subjects of a recall campaign against the entire City Council, their terms end in March.
In the next few days more people are expected to be qualified as candidates by the Los Angeles County Registrar’s Office.
Maywood, another city that has had its share of recent political shakeups, will be holding elections in November of 2013. Three seats will be up for grabs, including those held by Mayor Edward Varela and city councilmembers Felipe Aguirre and Thomas Martin.