Wuo Council run; Dougherty too?

Former Mayor John Wuo has confirmed he will run for Arcadia City Council in the April 2012 election.

Meanwhile, former School Board President Mary Dougherty is said to be strongly considering entering the race as well, which could mean at least five candidates for two open seats, including a former and current Mayor.

Former Mayor John Wuo (w/ tie) at Mayor's Breakfast April 2010

Wuo, who was termed out in 2010 after winning the first of two consecutive four-year terms in 2002, has sat out the required two years before being eligible to run again. He told the Sing Tao Daily newspaper recently that he will file to run again in 2012. Current Mayor Gary Kovacic is also expected to run for re-election as he completes his first four-year term since being re-elected in 2008 after sitting out for two years.

Candidates can begin filing papers for Council candidacy in December. Wuo will be trying to fill the seat being vacated by Councilman Roger Chandler when his second consecutive four-year term expires.

The seats of Chandler and Kovacic are the only two seats that will be up for election in April on the five-seat Council that is currently made up entirely of Caucasian men for the first time in many years. No women ran for the Council in 2010, and all three Chinese-American candidates were defeated in 2010, including Sho Tay, who got the most votes of the three and plans to make a fourth run at a Council seat in this election.

Developer Henry Nunez told ArcadiasBest.com last month that he plans to run for election.

Mary Dougherty

A fifth potential candidate may emerge in Mary Dougherty, a multi-term President of the Arcadia School Board who was unsuccessful in her first bid for City Council in 2000. In that election there were six candidates for two seats, including Vince Foley, former Councilman Gino Roncelli, former Mayor Dr. Sheng Chang, and current Councilman and former Mayor Mickey Segal. Dougherty has remained very active in many local organziations, leading homeowners association issues with the City and co-chairing the Government Affairs Forum of the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce, among other activities. She has long lobbied for new faces on the City Council and is believed to be weighing a run at the job herself, though is not ready to publicly discuss the matter as yet.

— By Scott Hettrick