My sister, Myrna Lardizabal de Vera elected 1st ever Filipina mayor of Hercules, CA

myrna de vera

The story is complicated but let me give you the short news as written by my other sister Lorna Lardizabal-Dietz :

Our sister, Myrna Lardizabal de Vera, was elected Mayor of Hercules, CA tonight, June 21, 2011. She was elected as a Council member last November 2010, then was elected as Vice-Mayor in January 2011. Prior to becoming a Council Member, Myrna was a Planning Commissioner of the City of Hercules for five years. Together with Vice-Mayor John Delgado (who is, by the way, one-quarter Filipino, and Myrna and John won in the same election without splitting the “Filipino vote”), they are the most experienced Council members to-date since the three newly sworn-in Council members came from the Recall Movement that successfully removed two council members (including the former mayor) from office… Myrna says: “Thank you, everyone, for your congratulations! There’s a lot of work to do!”

sister
Now the complicated part. I went to San Francisco sometime October 2010, to help Myrna campaign for a council seat position. In Hercules, the mayor is appointed by council members through votes. Myrna told me if she wins a council seat and tops it, she will be appointed Mayor in 2012. Council members take turns being mayor every year.

myrna de vera

The good news is my sister won a seat in the council but didn’t get the top spot. She was linked to the old administration which had issues with the citizenry. Winning the second spot would make her by tradition the mayor by 2014. I thought no big deal.

oath-taking By a twist of fate, the appointed mayor resigned before he could be charged with impropriety, which then made the seat vacant for mayor. Another appointment for mayor was done on January 28. 2011. Myrna was then appointed the Vice-Mayor of the city of Hercules.

The citizens in Hercules were not happy with the old council members and demanded a recall or another election. So yesterday night, there were three new council members and voting for the new mayor of 2011.

They voted for my sister, Myrna as the new mayor, just barely a year after her election to the city council last November 2010.

Congratulations to Mayor Myrna Lardizabal de Vera! And as @gmanews reported in Twitter:

Myrrna Lardizabal de Vera named 1st ever Pinay mayor of Hercules, CA for 2011; she is the 5th Pinoy to be elected mayor in Hercules.

My sister , Lorna Lardizabal-Dietz curated the controversy of one Council Member’s seat. If you read the links, you will see the history of why the Recall Movement started in the first place.