Guest Opinion | Bill Paparian: Pasadena City Hall Believes in the Golden Rule

Pasadena City Hall believes in the Golden Rule: “Those who have the gold make the rules.”

Nowhere is this more apparent in the ludicrous approach that the current City Hall clique took in response to the state law that set a maximum of $4,900 in contributions but left it up to local cities to establish their own limits. 

In Burbank it’s $500, in Glendale it’s $1,140. But oh no, not in Pasadena where, rightly, or wrongly, the public is left with the perception that in Pasadena we now have the best political representation that money can buy. 

That’s right folks, in Pasadena there is no limit.

So now what we have in the Crown City is the equivalent of the political wild west. Pasadena City Hall has gone rogue when it comes to bringing back bare knuckled, no holds barred, campaigns for local political office. Political opportunists now run for a seat on the city council and before their first term is up announce their candidacy for higher office. 

Incumbents announce their campaign for reelection and then proudly tout the endorsement of the partisan head of a local countywide political party. 

And did I mention term limits? We have one current office holder that has is now approaching a quarter century in office, and another has been ensconced in city hall for over 26 years!

Is this really the political system that we want in our city? I don’t think so and I’m willing to bet that most voters in Pasadena don’t want it either. We desperately need campaign reform and term limits so some sense of sanity can be restored to City Hall.

Do we really want to be known as Golden Rule Pasadena where “those who have the gold make the rules.”

Bill Paparaian is a former Mayor of Pasadena