Edison?s Foster Running for Long Beach Mayor

Southern California Edison president Bob Foster filed papers declaring his intention to run for mayor of the city of Long Beach. Foster would run against former Edison employee Randal Hernandez, also a declared candidate, and possibly city council member Frank Colonna. Mayor Beverly O?Neill has said that she plans to step down after 12 years in office. Foster has not announced his retirement, said Edison spokesperson Tom Boyd, but the Gazette , a local Long Beach paper, reports that he is expected to step down at the end of the year. In a statement, the company said that Foster has reached no final decision on whether to retire and run for the post. The Edison executive was unavailable for comment. The city?s primary election will be April 11, 2006, with any needed runoff in June. Long Beach residents will vote to fill a number of council seats, as well as the positions of city attorney, prosecutor, and auditor. The mayor?s job is a full-time position in Long Beach, a major city with a population of 461,000. O?Neill led the redevelopment of the Long Beach Naval Base when it closed in the 1990s into a popular tourist destination. Today, Long Beach has a sizable downtown and operates a major port, its own natural gas utility, and a waste-to-energy plant. It also is the home of active oil fields and refineries and the proposed site of a liquefied natural gas terminal to be built by Sound Energy Solutions. Foster is a resident of Naples Island in Long Beach, which sits in the middle of Alamitos Bay and is known for its canals lined with quaint houses. He joined Edison in 1984 as head of the utility?s office in Sacramento and then became vice-president of public affairs in 1993. He had a major hand in electric utility deregulation in 1996 and became president of Edison in 2002. Foster previously sat on the California Energy Commission and served as chief consultant to the state Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications. He serves on the boards of a number of organizations, including the California State University system and the Long Beach Aquarium.

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Edison?s Foster Running for Long Beach Mayor

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