Councilman O'Donnell officially announces for Assembly

Los Altos' 4^th District Councilman Patrick O’Donnell IS

running for Assembly

Los Altos’s 4^th District Councilman Patrick O’Donnell has sent out invitations for his “Kick-off” fundraiser to run for 70^th Assembly District.  They were received today in the mail.

The Kick Off fund raiser is Thursday June 13^th at the 14^th floor downtown law offices of Keesal, Young and Logan.

The O’Donnell campaign flyer asks for the following levels of contributions:

$ 4, 100

$ 2, 000

$ 1, 000

$     500

and  $ 99

Elected last year to a 3^rd four year term after saying he would stay for the full 4 years as a councilman if he won a third term, O’Donnell formed a fundraising committee for Assembly shortly after winning.

  
If O'Donnell is elected in 2014, a special election costing around $130,000 will be needed to fill the remaining 2 years of his city council term.

When running for a third term, O’Donnell in an interview with the Long Beach Business Journal that he would serve the full 4 years and not run for Assemby.

CLICK on AUDIO LINK:  O'Donnell's Statement he will serve 4 years

The interview reads as FOLLOWS:

LBBJ: ...But didn't you tell district residents that what you really wanted was to run for state assembly? Aren't you sending a negative message to your constituents?

O'Donnell: Not at all. There was a time when I looked at running [for] the state assembly. In the end, it turned out that it wasn't for me for a variety of reasons [so] I pulled out. You notice that I didn't just jump into the city council race? You notice that? Because I was walking away. Over time, a good number of folks came to me and said, "O'Donnell, we want you to run as a write-in because you've done a wonderful job [and] we want to keep you in office."

LBBJ: So the Democratic Party didn't call you and say, "We don't want you to run against Bonnie Lowenthal?" [who had first announced a run for state senate, then changed her mind and decided to stick with the assembly].

O'Donnell: No, not at all. And neither did the Republican Party.

LBBJ: If you win the reelection, will you commit to a full four-year term?

O'Donnell: If you run for four, you serve four.

LBBJ: So, you're not going to run for assembly in two years?

O'Donnell: Correct.

LBBJ: No matter what?

O'Donnell: Correct. If you run for four, you serve four.

LBBJ: As of December 31, you had about $42,000 in cash in your assembly race account. What are you going to do with that money?

O'Donnell: A good amount of that money has been sent back. I don't know what the exact numbers are.

LBBJ: It has been sent back?

O'Donnell: Not all of it but I know some of it has.

LBBJ: But you can't use it for [the] city council [race]? But you could save it for a future race.
O'Donnell: Right, but you can't use it in a city council race. I have to start anew.

LBBJ: Let's say you get reelected. In four years, would you look at a future run for state office at that time?

O'Donnell: What I've heard from a lot of people is "O'Donnell is running for this, O'Donnell is running for that." I'm not running for anything except the 4th District. My concern right now is serving and winning this election.

LBBJ: How much money do you think you'll raise for the council race?

O'Donnell: Probably about $50,000. What's interesting about this race is [if] you look at my opponents thus far – and they've been out there for a while – I was surprised at their [fund raising] numbers.

The LINK to the FULL interview can be found here:

CLICK ON: O'Donnell Interview

LINK TO LBReport.com STORY on forming O'Donnell for Assembly Committee:
CLICK ON  O'Donnell for Assembly Committee

LINK TO LBReport STORY on his announced run CLICK ON:
It's Definite: Long Beach Councilman Patrick O'Donnell Is Actively Seeking Election to Assembly in 2014; We Obtain Fundraising Invite, Here Are Its Listed Supporters