Candidates Set for Walnut City Council Race

One new candidate for Walnut City Council will join the one incumbent and an appointee in the race for two seats this April.

Betty Tang will run for election against Council Members Mary Su and Bob Pacheco.

The three candidates filed their nomination papers for the April 8 election and Walnut City Clerk Teresa De Dios certified them.  The deadline to file was today at 5:30 p.m.

Tang, a businesswoman, is president of the Chinese-American Parents Association, founder of the World Youth Education foundation, and a board member of the Coordinating Council of the Walnut Valley Unified School District and the Chinese Association of Walnut.

Su won her first bid for the City Council in 2006, the first Asian woman to be elected in Walnut.  She also was the city's first Asian woman mayor, serving in 2009 and in 2012-13.  She previously served on the Walnut Parks and Recreation Commission and is the co-founder and chairwoman of the Chinese-American Parents Association, Walnut Valley Unified School District.

Pacheco, a former assemblyman served on the Walnut City Council for two years before being elected state office in 1998.  He was termed out of the assembly in 2004. The attorney was appointed to the Walnut City Council in July to fill the vacant seat left when former Mayor Tom King retired.

Su and Pacheco kicked off their campaigns Saturday at their headquarters in the Lemon Creek Village Shopping Center at La Puente Road and Lemon Avenue.

The election is set for April 8.