Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin seemed to have a lot going for him as he prepared for a reelection campaign for his Westside district. A mean-spirited recall effort had sputtered and failed. Bonin, who was first elected in 2013, won his last reelection with 71% of the vote.
Then, suddenly, he announced last week that he will not to run for a third term in order to focus on his battle with chronic depression. He didn’t attribute his decision completely to his other battle — with vocal and relentless critics — but did say there were times when the council job made dealing with his depression “more challenging.”
There has been little about Bonin’s time during his current term that has not been challenging. He is a progressive on issues of homelessness, police reform and the environment. When other council members voted for an ordinance last summer that would allow them to designate streets and areas off-limits to homeless campers, Bonin voted against it, arguing that the council had spent no time figuring out where homeless people could sleep if they turned down an offer of shelter.
