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After being bounced from the election, previous front-runner Beth Mason is now putting her support behind her old reformer ally Dawn Zimmer and one of Zimmer’s council candidates. However, Mason’s council candidates may not be doing the same, a source says.
Mason held an impromptu press conference on the steps of City Hall at 4:30 on Tuesday and release a statement in support of Zimmer, Ravi Bhalla — a City Council candidate on Zimmer’s slate — and two candidates who ran on her own slate, Vincent Addeo and Raul Morales II. All of those candidates made it into the runoff, as did two other Zimmer council candidates and a candidate on contender Peter Cammarano’s slate, Angel Alicea.
Mason said she will help Zimmer push her agenda, which Mason said is very close to her own and not supported by special interest groups.
“The biggest issue here is change,” Mason said, noting that she sought imput from supporters on who she should back. Her supporters, she said, were not favoring one side against the other.
However, Mason said Zimmer is someone she can work with “to create change.”
The 2nd Ward councilwoman said she isn’t sure whether Addeo and Morales II will side with Cammarano in the runoff rather than with Zimmer, but she said, “They ran with me and support what I believe in.”
Late on Tuesday, one source said Addeo and Morales may be siding with Cammarano.
As far as campaign contributions, Mason said she’ll be sitting this one out.
“I feel like I put forth a very strong effort on that front already,” she said.
Mason loaned at least $100,000 to her own campaign, but will not donate to Zimmer’s.
Mason said Bhalla was on a short list of council candidates for her early in the campaign process, and that she is confident he would be an asset on the council.
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EXCLUSIVE: Mason explains endorsement of Zimmer, but slate-mates may not agree
