Although Long Beach City Councilmember Bonnie Lowenthal has made extensive preparations to run for the California Assembly in 2008, her candidacy ultimately depends upon the result of a February ballot initiative that would loosen term-limit restrictions and allow incumbent Democrat Betty Karnette to run again.

Lowenthal would not challenge Karnette, a fellow Democrat who has represented the 54th Assembly District since 1996, an aide to the Second District councilmember told The District this week. The 54th includes parts or all of the cities of Long Beach, Avalon, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, San Pedro and Signal Hill. It also includes portions of both the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles.

A story in today’s Press-Telegram outlines the groundwork that Lowenthal has laid for a potential Assembly campaign — most notably, changing her residence so that she actually lives in the 54th District. Other candidates for the office include Seventh District Councilmember Tonia Reyes Uranga and businessman Jim Brandt.

Lowenthal, the ex-wife of State Senator Alan Lowenthal and mother-in-law of Second District City Councilmember Suja Lowenthal, had previously lived in the 55th District, where Warren Furutani this week won a primary election to replace Laura Richardson, the former Long Beach city councilmember who vacated the seat only a few months after she won it so she could run for the 37th district congressional office when Juanita Millender-McDonald died of cancer. Got that?

Proposition 93 –the Term Limits and Legislative Reform Act — qualified for the February ballot in early September. It would permit legislators to serve 12 years in the state Senate or Assembly rather than splitting a 14-year limit between the two bodies. That translates into six extra years in their current jobs for current legislators. The proposition is supported by the two most-powerful California legislators — Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate leader Don Perata, who otherwise would be forced out of office next year by term limits.

_uacct = “UA-2508221-1″; urchinTracker();

Tags: Alan Lowenthal, Betty Karnette, bonnie lowenthal, Dave Wielenga, Jim Brandt, Proposition 93, suja lowenthal, Term Limits and Legislative Reform Act, Tonia Reyes Uranga