Jacque Robinson-Baisley Exploring Another Mayoral Run

This article is the first in a new series focusing on the 2020 Pasadena mayoral race. “Insiders and Outsiders: A Closer Look at the 2020 Candidates for Pasadena Mayor” is written by Pasadena resident and writer, Doug Forbes.

Former two-term Pasadena Councilmember, Vice Mayor and 2015 Mayoral candidate Jacque Robinson-Baisley officially announced on Friday that she opened a campaign committee to run for Mayor in 2020. Incumbent Mayor Terry Tornek, Councilmember Victor Gordo and local businessmen Major Williams and Jason Hardin have already announced their intentions to run.

“I’m rusty, because I’ve been out of view and on the baby bus for the last two years,” Robinson-Baisley said after being interviewed by the Pasadena Firefighters Association, IAFF Local 809 last week. She gave birth to daughter Sora on Oct. 11, 2017. Roughly 18 months before giving birth, the IAFF Local 809 had endorsed her for mayor. And two weeks after that, she lost to Tornek by nine points in a run-off.

“I guess it’s like riding a bike, but that was literally my first opportunity to talk about why I wanted to run,” she said.

Robinson-Baisley said IAFF Local 809 invited her to share her vision for 2020. They asked how she plans to balance everything—if she planned to work during the campaign and if she were elected mayor. She said the question itself is why some women might get discouraged from pursuing office. She said, “Life goes on if you are elected. You still have to be mom. You still have to be wife. You still have to be mayor. You still have to work, which I plan to do.” She said she does not think men get questions such as who is going to take care of their child while campaigning, nor do men ordinarily have “as much balance to consider” before they make such a weighty decision.

Endorsements are important, she said. But she does not think they are critical to a campaign or that she needs validation from the Pasadena establishment. The IAFF Local 809 has since endorsed Gordo.

She said “it is no secret that very few, if any, of our employee bargaining groups have a good working relationship with Tornek. It is understandable that they are looking for alternative leadership, at minimum. I was proud to have the [IAFF Local 809] endorsement and support during my candidacy in 2015. I still value their contributions to the community and wish them the best.”

John and Evadney Robinson have made their own contributions to Pasadena where they met in 1973 and married in 1974. Originally from Louisiana, John is a retired union cement mason. Evadney, born in Belize and naturalized in 1981, is a near-retired U.S. Postal Service clerk for 40 years. They have three daughters, including Jacque; her twin sister Josephine, a Special Education Para Educator; and younger sister Jennifer, who holds a Ph.D. and is a university lecturer in communication.

Like her parents, Robinson-Baisley has been devoted to greater Pasadena her entire life. She is currently Program Officer for the California Community Foundation where she manages civic engagement and public policy. She has worked on congressional, state and local campaigns for candidates and unions, served as chairperson of the Foothill Workforce Investment Board, policy director to the governing board president of the Los Angeles Unified School District, board member of Abode, member of the advisory board for Rosemary Children’s Services, California State Director of the National Foundation for Women Legislators, commissioner of the Burbank Bob Hope Airport Authority and a variety of additional professional organizations throughout the region.

She said, following the 2015 mayoral race, she wanted to remain a commissioner of the airport authority and other city commissions—a decision to be determined by the mayor or councilmembers—but it “was their choice not to keep me appointed.”

Nominating papers for Pasadena’s elected offices must be filed between Nov. 12-Dec. 6. Robinson-Baisley said that the impending deadline is one of her primary challenges because she and her husband Marcus currently live in Altadena. Candidates must live in Pasadena.

“I hope that the universe opens up and blesses me with a lease in Pasadena, something not economically burdensome and which works for my family,” she said.

The couple has been looking for a while. Like many middle-class families in the area, they contend with high demand, low supply and skyrocketing housing prices. According to the most recent United States Census estimates, Pasadena’s population density is 6,150 people per square mile, which is 2,500 percent higher than the California average. According to real estate marketer Redfin, the median Pasadena home price is $900,000. According to Rent Jungle, the media rent for a 2-bedroom is nearly $2,800.

Robinson-Baisley said balancing expenses, including lingering college loans also played a role in living in Altadena for a while. According to the Federal Reserve, 45 million Americans owe, in total, more than $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, a half trillion more than national credit card debt. The couple’s nonprofit and entrepreneurial careers, coupled with a ceaselessly rising cost of living, present typical barriers to entry where it concerns Pasadena’s housing costs.

“If you had to struggle to put food on your table or struggle to maintain a roof over your head from rising rents or struggle with buying your first house for your family, those are things to consider as policies once you’re around the dais. We’re not going to build our way to affordable housing in Pasadena.”

She said she does not yet have a campaign slogan but would run again because she is “passionate about Pasadena.” She said the city can still do better for generations to come, including her own daughter’s generation, and for women in general.

“One of the reasons I’m doing this is because of Sora. I want her to have the opportunity to benefit from all the things that I did in Pasadena, and I don’t want her to think that she’s limited by her gender or race or anything else.”

Robinson-Baisley said that some of those limitations were readily apparent during her initial run for council when criticized for not having been involved in city commissions.

“I remember somebody was upset with me because they wanted to know why I was appointing all these women to commission seats [after being elected]. I told them because the women were qualified. Nobody asked why were all these men appointed.”

She said the last time she ran for mayor, she was also repeatedly asked questions about a husband that did not yet exist, and a baby that did not yet exist.

After four years, that husband and that baby now exist. Robinson-Baisley said there are “intentional and unintentional mechanisms” that create an environment in which she is a longshot for mayor. Those same mechanisms, she said, are what drives her. “There is no way I can remove myself from being young-ish and black and a woman. If nobody does it first, it will never be done. Diversity is what makes policy.”

In 1982, 37-year-old Loretta Thompson-Glickman became the nation’s first black woman mayor in a city with a population exceeding 100,000. That city was Pasadena. Only three of Pasadena’s 55 mayors have been women. Assemblymember Chris Holden was Pasadena’s only other black mayor. Only seven women have sat on council to date, no more than two concurrently.

Although Robinson-Baisley has not “been around the dais” for a spell, she said she has observed city affairs as an active community member, which gave her a fresh perspective. One of those observations was the emergence of a potential sea change in city council. Were she to be elected mayor, she could be joined by three women seeking council seats: Felicia Williams in District 2, Charlotte Bland in District 4 and Tamerlin Godley in District 6. Should all four women succeed, the council would tip majority female for the first time in Pasadena history.

Not only is Robinson-Baisley keenly aware of her current challenges, she understands how other factors, largely outside of her control, have played a significant role in her political pursuits. In 2015, approximately 80 percent of Pasadenans failed to cast ballots for mayor and council. She said that voters have been “discouraged by the process because they don’t see how it matters on an everyday basis.” Her day job in civic engagement, she said, focuses on “that million-dollar question” of how to keep people involved beyond election years.

Engagement is one concern. Campaign financing is another. And while turnout is expected to increase in 2020—due to the fact that local and state elections are aligned in the same cycle—Robinson-Baisley said she is not as optimistic about fundraising as she was in 2015 when she said she out-raised Tornek.

“I’m pretty sure Victor [Gordo] will raise more money, especially if he gets labor. But again, Terry [Tornek] raised less than I did last time, and he won.”

Nonetheless, though black, female, middle class and comparatively young, Robinson-Baisley is clearly hopeful enough to take another turn at the top spot in city government. She said her time away from city hall and the idea of old guard versus new guard would never dissuade her from following her commitment to contribute how she can.

“Almost every opportunity I’ve had, I owe to being a member of the Pasadena community.”

Mayoral contender Gordo has also repeatedly stated how Pasadena afforded him with similar opportunities. However, Robinson-Baisley had one question for him. “If he gets elected mayor, what is he going to do to ensure that there is at least one woman candidate supported by him to run for his seat. Nobody gets to crown their successor, but I assume he has thought about it.”
Gordo’s answer will appear in a later installment of this series on “Insiders and Outsiders: The 2020 Race for Pasadena Mayor.”