From today’s Morning Report:
Lorena Gonzalez, the triumphant leader of the San Diego Imperial Counties Labor Council has announced late Wednesday that she will run for the state Assembly’s 80th District, the seat currently held by her ally Ben Hueso.
Hueso is likely to vie for, and win, the state Senate seat Juan Vargas is leaving to take Bob Filner’s spot in Congress as Filner is now San Diego mayor.
Gonzalez’s aide, Evan McLaughlin, is going to run her campaign, and they insisted there’s a possibility Hueso may remain in his post until 2016. If so, that’s when Gonzalez would run for the seat.
But she’s definitely going for the seat whenever it’s open and most likely, it will be this spring.
Chula Vista’s Steve Castaneda told The Star News that he was going to run for that Assembly seat too.
Gonzalez had long been rumored to be aiming for this after her move from the Pacific Beach area to Sherman Heights. She took over the umbrella group of local labor unions in 2007 after Jerry Butkiewicz left.
Who takes over for her may be the most interesting political question in all this shuffle.
Or maybe not. While Gonzalez and Butkiewicz had a heavy focus on politics, Gonzalez told the U-T it’s time for another direction.
“As we move forward, it’s time for the head of the labor council to be a little less about running a political program and more about running an organizing program,” she said.
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