Shortly after long-time Monrovia City Councilman Joe Garcia announced he was not running for re-election, I received a number of inquiries from the community as to whether I was running and who else might be.
One of the key questions for all who considered running, and I know of at least three people who considered filing and did not, was the competition and the incumbents.
Shortly after the first of the year, I was told by a mutual acquaintance that Clarence Shaw was also not going to seek re-election and was relocating to Seattle where he was mobilized with the Army Reserve. Surprised by this, I called him in Washington to establish the truth.
On January 5, at 8:16a.m., I received a very brief (less than two-minute call) from Mr. Shaw in which he advised that he absolutely was returning home, would be back in the last week of the filing period, and unquestionably was running again. "Don't let anybody tell you different" he added, before promising to meet me for coffee when he returned.
So much for the word of a friend and comrade. I'm more than a bit curious as to why he neither ran nor told me he'd had a change of plans.
Call me, Clarence!
