Phaedra's Out, Chavez Is In

Fly reported three weeks ago that the South Bay Labor Council's generalissimo, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, seemed to be fading from the City Hall scene, while former Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez looked to be stepping into her shoes. This provoked an uproar from the local chattering class, who immediately attacked Fly for being off the mark. Apparently they were wrong. Ellis-Lamkins this morning announced that she is resigning from the SBLC on April 17 to lead the organization Green for All. And to everyone's surprise (with the exception of Fly's faithful readers), Chavez was elected by the SBLC's executive committee to be the new executive officer, assuming the delegate body signs off on it. Chavez had disappeared from the political scene after losing to Mayor Chuck Reed in 2006. She resurfaced several months ago when she became a contractor for SBLC, while Ellis-Lamkins took off to D.C. for an allegedly temporary break in order to work for the Obama transition team on labor issues.

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