Felipe Fuentes No Longer Wants to Serve in Public Office
In what looks like a rather rare move from a politician, Los Angeles City Councilman Felipe Fuentes just declared that he will not seek a re-election for his current post.
Despite being expected to run for re-election in 2017, Fuentes came out with a surprise and released a statement that he will no longer seek a second term and added that he wants to "try a new career."
Elected back in 2013, the 44-year-old councilman has served the public for 16 years now, with the last three in his current post. His career was mostly him serving either as a political aide or a state assembly member.
According to legislative analyst Avak Keotahian, this is the first time in decades that a politician declined to run for a second term. Keotahian said that despite looking through council records, which span several decades, he cannot find someone with a similar situation.
"Going back to the '50s and '60s, there's nobody who did what this guy's doing," he said, "they either died, were defeated or went on to some other office."
According to the Daily News, his announcement also came in light of a report from the Los Angeles Times that said his district was reported to have received a subpoena that demands them to appear before a federal grand jury.
However, he and his lawyer, Stephen Kaufman, declined to confirm or even comment regarding the reported subpoena.
Fuentes represents the northeast section of San Fernando Valley, which encompasses neighborhoods such as Pacoima, Lake View Terrace, Shadow Hills and Sunlund-Tujunga.
His co-councilmen Bob Blumenfield and Mike Bonin, both also elected in 2013, remarked that they were shocked by Fuentes decision, Bonin said that he was always been impressed by his colleague's brightness and thoughtfulness and how he adds so much to the council's discussion.
With the announcement, two people filed the preliminary papers to run for his seat in 2017. The city council aspirants were named as Bonnie Corwin and Nancy Woodruff, who holds a seat at the Foothill Trails District Neighborhood Council.
Woodruff remarked that Fuentes' decision did not really come as a surprise due to the fact that he was already on the receiving end of criticism because of problems like traffic and the ever growing homelessness problem that plagued the city.
According to My News LA, had Fuentes decided to run for a re-election, he would have served for 5 1/2 years, 18 months more than his current term, due to the one-time lengthening of the terms approved by the voters last year.
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