Will This Court Document Stop Pasadena’s March Elections?

Pasadena Now has obtained a copy of the court filing by Pasadena Attorney Philip Koebel in which he petitions a federal judge to put the city-wide March elections on hold. Read the filing.

Koebel told the Pasadena City Council tonight his client, James Lomako, is suing because the public was not made aware of an alleged City Hall embezzlement scheme prior to the closure of nominations.

The fraud referred to by Koebel is a case in which the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has arrested three people for allegedly embezzling as much as $6.4 million from city coffers over an 11-year period.

The news of the arrests of the suspects occurred after the nomination period for the city elections had closed.

Lomako is a past City Council candidate and says in the suit that had he known of the alleged fraud, he would have run for office in the current election.

The filing claims that by withholding public knowledge of the fraud, city officials acted improperly “under color of authority” and deprived Lomako of his civil rights.

 

Click here to read the Koebel’s court filing