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| | Commissioner Candidate Ready for Duty By Robert Warne - September 25, 2001Along with last week’s announcement that State Insurance Commissioner Harry Low won’t run in the 2002 elections, now there’s news that another candidate’s campaign may be put on hold. Army paratrooper, lawyer and former Orange County assemblyman, Tom Umberg (D) has the opportunity to answer a higher call of public service—to participate in the campaign against terrorism.
Both Umberg and his wife have been put on alert along with thousands of other reservist who may be called to duty. Both are colonels in the US Army Reserve and until just recently his wife outranked him. A family man, Umberg is more worried about who will take care of his two sons more than how he can get the necessary votes to put him in office.
This isn’t the first time Umberg has found himself in this type of predicament. In 1990 he was called to active duty and sent to the Middle East amidst a campaign for state Assembly. Upon his return and prior to the election, Umberg was able to pick up where he left off and mount a successful run in the remaining months to win the election.
With Umberg’s absence in the race, Assemblyman Tom Calderon (D-Montebello) and former Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi also a democrat will have the stage all to themselves.
For now, Umberg awaits orders before he can make a decision regarding the near future of his political career. If he is called to serve for a short time, he may still have a window of opportunity to salvage a campaign that he’s lined up $1.5 million in loans for. If his call is indefinite, he will have to withdraw altogether from the race. |