Guest Opinion | Councilmember Andy Wilson: Casting Your Vote for Mayor 

As someone who has been active in the community for 20 years and currently serves as the District 7 City Councilmember, I am often asked to weigh in on the current Mayoral race between Mayor Tornek and Councilmember Gordo. While my official position remains not endorsing one over the other (as I call it, “being Switzerland”), I think I can provide meaningful insight to help residents decide which candidate is the right choice for them.

The good news is that both are highly experienced and very capable – how fortunate we are as a City to be presented with two excellent alternatives! Also, despite their efforts to differentiate their various policy views, they are generally closely aligned: both are looking to preserve what makes Pasadena special while keeping the city relevant in rapidly changing times. That said, their leadership styles and approaches are very different. The “right” choice for Mayor is really a question of what you as a resident value in our top local political leader and what approach you believe is best suited to addressing the pressing challenges of our time.

Tornek originally arrived in Pasadena more than 30 years ago equipped with two Ivy League degrees to lead the City’s planning department, but at his core he is a focused businessperson. He is diligent, thorough, and highly analytical. I have attended hundreds of meetings with Tornek. He is always scrupulously prepared, with marked-up staff reports and extensive independent research. He is intellectually rigorous. He values community input as a critical prerequisite to the evaluation of various options and moving toward a robust solution. Tornek is an analytically driven problem solver, who aggressively pursues what he has concluded is the optimal outcome regardless of whether it’s politically popular. His diligent approach guides him to strong positions which he defends firmly, to an extent that some might find him abrupt or even rude. Admittedly his direct and transparent approach could benefit from a softening of the sharp edges and a bit more empathy, but he is a no nonsense problem solver looking to move the City’s agenda forward. Making people feel warm and fuzzy isn’t his top priority – his approach is more “tough love,” where he sees his job as Mayor is to drive toward what his extensive analysis, thorough homework and community polling establishes as the best path forward, without undue delay.

Gordo is Pasadena home-grown and super likable. He listens, he connects and is empathetic. He is a union lawyer who does tons of negotiations – his expertise is finding common ground. The best solution for him is the one that most people support and is most politically popular. He knows how to engage a group and connect with them. Gordo is masterful in crafting solutions that marry disparate perspectives, even if they perhaps don’t tackle some tough decisions that are less immediately popular. He will amplify areas of residents’ dissatisfaction to demonstrate empathy even if these concerns are beyond the direct influence of the Council. You can see the many fingerprints of former Mayor Bogaard on Gordo’s approach. Some may accuse Gordo of pandering to disparate constituencies that have conflicting priorities (i.e. against development but for building more affordable housing). Admittedly, he can find ways to make everyone feel he’s said Yes to their opposing interests, but as a mediator who values reconciliation, he doesn’t seem greatly bothered by these potential contradictions. For Gordo, community engagement is not only a step toward identifying a solution, but an ongoing process that keeps people aligned.

A recent example of these two leaders’ different approaches can be readily observed in the creation and adoption of a Citizen Police Oversight Committee and Independent Auditor. Given the tragic murder of George Floyd (and more recently the shooting of Anthony McClain) and the ensuing community uprising, Mayor Tornek committed to presenting a solution in 90 days (consistent with the Obama Foundation Mayor’s Pledge). He could make that commitment knowing the Council had closely considered and previously rejected well-vetted recommendations in 2016 during an extensive public process that included the advice of respected outside experts. Looking to move quickly, Mayor Tornek, in collaboration with the Public Safety Committee Chair John Kennedy, promptly resubmitted the 2016 recommendation for reconsideration. Despite initial objections from Gordo and a couple other Council members that this proposal was both rushed and developed behind closed doors, the Council ultimately adopted it unanimously, and it’s now in the final phases of being codified in record time. My sense is that Gordo’s primary objection didn’t stem from the substance of the recommendation, but rather the expedited process, which he has often characterized as lacking in transparency. This is a perfect case study: Tornek rapidly moved toward an effective solution, while Gordo prioritized broad-based community engagement and additional buy-in over response time. In the end, they agreed on the outcome.

Both Mayor Tornek and Councilmember Gordo are highly astute leaders and more than capable of leading Pasadena as our Mayor. The real question is what you as a voter value in your Mayor, and what approach is most suited to our times. If you prefer to let a highly rigorous and expert leader help move the City forward then Mayor Tornek is your choice. If you prefer a leader who will continuously engage all interested parties to come up with a consensus path forward, then Councilmember

Gordo is your choice. As an elected official myself, I experience this tension – should I execute my duties as a direct reflection of what’s most popular, directly translating the “will of the people,” or do I at times support what I think is in the collective best

interest as an informed expert who has thoroughly and carefully analyzed all relevant facts, even if I believe it could hurt me politically?

In making their decision, voters should think about what will be the biggest issues facing Pasadena over various timeframes: the coming months, the next few years, and beyond. Will the pandemic persist, and if so, what sort of leadership will best  and most efficiently get the city through the period of medical danger, budget challenges and economic disruption? Will the pandemic be the dominant issue or might it be homelessness, racial disparity, police conduct, educational quality, etc.? When we think about the issues we will face going forward, it will help to focus our decision on whether Tornek’s style or Gordo’s will best serve the community during the next four years. Whatever the final outcome, I am confident that Pasadena will be in good hands.

Andy Wilson is the Pasadena District 7 City Councilmember