LA LOUNGE CANDIDATE FORUM: State Senator Candidate LAURA RICHARDSON (center in green) is flanked to her left by LA Lounge owner Aaron Moore and his wife Kimberly who hosted the former member of congress on Aug. 18 in Inglewood. (KENNETH MILLER/PHOTO)
By Kenneth Miller, Publisher
(Editor’s Note: Local businessman Aaron Moore, owner of LA Lounge Premium Cigars in Inglewood, extended invitations to California 35th District Senate Seat candidates Laura Richardson and Michelle Chambers to share their vision with LA Lounge Members. Richardson accepted and was hosted on Aug. 18, but Chambers campaign had yet to accept the invitation at presstime.)
There are always moments in a political campaign where candidates either do something to undercut their candidacy or to propel it towards a victory on election day.
Former Congresswoman Laura Richardson visited the LA Lounge in Inglewood on a busy Saturday on Aug. 18 and arrived to an audience of less than 20 people.
By most politician standards it would have been an occasion to pass up for a larger crowd or one more media attractive, but for Richardson it was an opportunity that she could not pass on.
She had been informed that Chambers had also been invited by the private Members Only lounge that hails itself as Black Wall Street, having hosted the the likes of powerful elected officials such as Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Inglewood City Councilman Eloy Morales and former Los Angeles City Councilman Herb Wesson to name a few.
For Richardson, who has served at all levels of government including her last as a member of The House of Representatives for 7 years, she took the opportunity in the relaxed intimate setting that included business owners, an educator and a medical professional to reveal who she is.
And from the response of the gathering, it could not have gone any better had Richardson prepared a script for it.
Wearing a satin shiny bright lime green pantsuit, Richardson disclosed that her one experience with cigars was when she was invited to a cigar lounge years ago and puffed on four stogies making her sick, quipping to the setting that perhaps she didn’t know what she was doing.
While her lone cigar experiment may have gone way south, Richardson continued to paint a portrait of a former married woman, who adores public service so much that she decided to run for State Senator against the wishes of her doting 86 year old mother.
Since being out of public office, Richards has been spending most of her time in real estate, a partnership with her sister who is retired and transformed their life in a lucrative way.
However, the stubborn daughter Richardson vowed to return to service where she feels her impact on life is most essential, hence she decided to run for CA-35 Senate Seat to replace termed out Senator Steven Bradford.
After a crowded primary, she advanced to the primary against former Compton City Councilwoman Michelle Chambers to the general election on November 5.
This crowd which included Moore and his wife Kimberly, mother in-law, two sons, granddaughter and a military veteran who committed to phone bank for Richardson pelted the candidate with some tough questions regarding home ownership, housing, healthcare and opportunities specifically for Blacks.
TWO OF A KIND: Inglewood City Council member Gloria Gray and 35th District Senate candidate LAURA RICHARDSON at LA Lounge Candidate Forum on Aug. 18 in Inglewood. (KENNETH MILLER/PHOTO)
I worked for Richardson and have known her for a number of years and it has become apparent she has dramatically changed from her days in Congress.
Always strikingly brilliant, it was her lack of personality that most pointed out as her achilles heel. None of that was evident in the smudgy humid LA Lounge where her soft spoken voice resonated with an authentic message that connected.
I was probably the only member of the lounge that knew Richardson, who carefully communicated with each and every person who asked a question and then decided to hang out long enough for her good friend and City of Inglewood Councilwoman Gloria Gray to come by after leaving a chili cook off.
Gray is among the many officials who have endorsed Richardson, including Rep. Waters and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, but it was the voters within the district whose approval she won on this day.
“We have had a number of elected officials here, but I could not have been more impressed than I was with her. She was personable, believable and just real,” said LA Lounge owner Moore.
Those sentiments were echoed by most of the people that I spoke with, declaring that they didn’t know who she was or what to expect but would undoubtedly be voting for her.
