Mayor Helene Schneider was online in City Hall at 10:30 a.m. last Tuesday when she read the breaking news posted at independent.com that Rep. Lois Capps will retire from Congress in 2016.
She quickly left her office and headed home. The record will show that she announced her candidacy to replace Capps, via email, precisely five hours and 12 minutes later.
“These positions open up very rarely,” Schneider said over lunch a few days later, “and when opportunity opens, I’m going to jump in.”