By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher
With the elevation of Assemblywoman Shirley Weber to the position of Secretary of State for the State of California, we now have a vacancy in the 79th Assembly District which will be filled in a special election in April. The real issue is who will fill the position? The second question is: Will the African American community maintain control of that seat, which it took decades to acquire before Assembly member Weber? While everyone has a right to run, the question is do we risk losing the seat by having several of “us” running and thereby splitting the vote to allow someone else to win the seat? The end result is not one of who is best “qualified” for the position, but rather, who can win and who has the resources to fund such a special election
We see already that Labor has endorsed Dr. Akilah Weber. It has been suggested that there will be a strongly financed candidate from the Latino community. It would appear that this is a good time for San Diego’s 79th Assembly District African American constituency to come together, like the people of the State of Georgia did, and look at winning rather than have a battle of egos and personalities.
Those who still are not registered now have an opportunity to do so. We can expect a vote by “mail ballot” as we had this past November. It is suggested here that there be a meeting of those who intend to or have already announced their intentions to run and that those people emerge with a united front for the good of the whole community.
We welcome discussion of this matter as we move toward a collective position.
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