While I have never used this website to promote any particular political agenda, this is about to change. The City of Torrance will be electing a new mayor in June of 2014 and I am throwing my support, in any way possible, to Torrance City Councilman, Pat Furey. It was close to 25 years ago that I first met Mr. Furey and while we have never hung out and drank beer together, for as long as I have known of him, he has been involved in various organizations that benefited kids and that is something I feel quite deeply about.
One of my first recollections of Councilman Furey was when I was at some parent’s orientation for scouting or Little League, so it had to be close to 25 years ago. After the leaders gave their talk to us about what would be expected from parents to help their kids get the most out of the scouting (or Little League) experience, a gentleman approached me, introduced himself and told me that he had heard I was a parent willing to become involved in a leadership position. I remember thinking that this guy seemed like he must be one of those people that are lifelong scouts and that he must be one of those people that are always involved in civic activities.
I accepted his offer and for the next few years I saw him at scouting functions and Little League games, sometimes acting as an umpire. As my kids got older, I saw Pat less frequently but I still saw his name in the news since he was elected to the Torrance City Council in 2008. Towards the end of 2011 we joined the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce and I started attending and photographing various ribbon cuttings. At one of these events he saw and recognized me and came up to say hello. As I attended more Chamber events, I saw Pat Furey more and more often; continuing to be involved in civic events.
A few months ago I was doing some research for an article I was going to write and discovered that Pat works for the County of Los Angeles as a Principal Deputy County Counsel assigned to the Children’s Services Division. In other words, not only is he involved with local youth in his personal life, but his professional life puts him in the position of protecting abused children throughout the County of Los Angeles. I think what surprised me the most is that while my initial impressions of Pat were that he must have been a lifetime Torrance resident to be so firmly involved with Torrance youth programs, the fact of the matter is that he must have just recently relocated to the South Bay prior to our meeting.
As it turns out, my daughter also works with DCFS and is quite aware of Mr. Furey’s reputation. Because I have met people my daughter works with, I have discovered that several of them have had occasion to work with Pat and everyone one of them have had nothing but positive things to say about their experiences interacting with him.
When I heard that he was running for Mayor of the City of Torrance, I knew immediately that I would be supporting him in any way possible. Torrance is going to be going through some big changes in the next few years, not least of which is the fact that we will have a new mayor and the city council will have several vacancies that will need to be filled. It is to our benefit to have someone that has devoted a great portion of their life to civic involvement as our new leader. To have a leader that has long understood the importance of our youth to our future and has spent at least 20 years supporting this idea makes it clear to me that Councilman Pat Furey is the right person for the job. Please join me in supporting Pat Furey for Mayor in 2014.
These photos were taken Wednesday evening, June 19, 2013 at the Pat Furey for Mayor Campaign Kickoff Fundraiser; held at the Order Sons of Italy hall located at 1744 W Carson St, Torrance, CA 90501.
