Monday Morning Bullpen: Bring on the Reform

The City Council returns on Monday after appointing Justin Jones to represent District 3.

The agenda is light, nothing big or earth shattering here.

I expect some calls regarding the appointment.

The usual conspiracy theories will fly.

May as well save the nickels folks. It’s a done deal.

Here’s some advice to Jones, remember you’re there to do the City’s business. You’re going to have to have thick skin.

You should be fine.

The big news on the horizon could be charter change, which Mayor Victor Gordo asked City Clerk Mark Jomsky to look into.

If charter reform goes to the voters, the big ticket item should not be special elections vs. appointments.

Nope, there is a bigger issue in the charter that must be addressed to bring about balance in the city’s election.
The charter has to be changed to correct how the mayor is elected.

Stay with me here, currently the mayoral elections are held along with City Council districts 1,2,4 and 6 every four years.
That means that those councilmembers must give up their seats to run for mayor as former District 1 Councilmember Jacque Robinson did.

However, because elections for seats in 3,5 and 7 are not held during mayoral elections, those councilmembers have nothing to lose if they toss their hat in the ring for Mayor.

It’s no coincidence two of the last three councilmembers to run to wield the gavel came out of districts 5 and 7. The other of course is Robinson.

Former Mayor Terry Tornek, who represented District 7 when he ran against Robinson, and current Mayor Victor Gordo, who represented District 5, would have simply returned to their duties as council members had they lost those respective mayoral elections.

That provides an unfair advantage to council members representing districts 3, 5 and 7.

Hmmm my phone is ringing, I’d bet that’s Jones, Jess Rivas or Andy Wilson on the line … wait could be Jason Lyon.

Might as well let it go to voicemail.

There are a few ways to fix this.

Hold the mayoral elections alone in odd numbered years, but that would lead to constant campaigns … council, mayor, council, mayor. The result would be voter apathy from an overload of voter information.

It’s bad enough there are five elections when the gavel and seats in districts 1,2,4 and 6 are up for grabs.

Here’s another fix, require all councilmembers to resign to run for Mayor.

That would definitely even the playing field, but more dabblers would probably jump in to compete for the open seats.

Here’s one that could work and I can’t take credit for it.

Increase the mayoral term to six years. That way the mayoral election cycle changes from 1,2,4,6 to 3,5,7 at the end of the term and everybody has a chance to run.

Either way, something has to be done.

I’m sure the City Clerk will come up with some good ideas and pass them on to the City Council at the appropriate time. After that the voters will get their say.

As far as appointments to the City Council, hold a special election after 90 days unless an election is occurring within six months.

Arcadia is going through it because they have 30 days to make an appointment and if that deadline is not met, it has to go to the voters.

Recently they missed the deadline and appointed someone anyway — of course lawsuits abound.

Thirty days is just not enough time in Pasadena.

Truth to tell, I doubt it’s not enough time to properly elect a student body president at John Muir. Go Mustangs.

Moving on, do we need a residency time requirement?
What’s that going to change? John Smith moves into the district one month before the election and thinks things need to change.
Should he lose one of his greatest constitutional rights because he just moved into the district?

Absolutely not. If he’s a lifelong Pasadena resident, there is a strong chance he knows what he is talking about.

Now if the idea is to require a certain amount of time in the city before running for election, then we may have something.

Sounds like something that won’t stand up in court though.

But what do I know?

Oh yes, while we’re at it — toss term limits in there.

Gotta go, some angry electeds are outside the door.