Political Gumbo: Knock It Off

Last Friday a mailer went out calling out Rick Cole over a past dust-up with the Tournament of Roses.

Almost immediately the mailer set off local residents across the City.

The Mayor, Councilmembers, residents and the candidates all had something to say about the mailer.

Truth to tell, choosing a relative of Columbus to lead the parade, way back in 1991, was a bad choice for the Tournament.

Respect to Cole and those that stood tall.

However, of course there were those that were not happy about the Tournament of Racism T-shirt and they still may not be. 

Hey, some people don’t want to see protests at the parade. 

At the same time, should what happened in 1991 be campaign fodder today? 

By Sunday a lot of folks had chimed in including the Mayor, some Councilmembers and local residents in and out of the District. 

And all of them said the District 2 race is ugly.

Yes, the majority of them pointed to the mailer, including a few residents from District 2.

Others in the District did say they agreed with the mailer but would not go on the record because they did not want to be maligned. 

Some of them said the race has always been ugly. 

I can’t prove either side’s point on that. You have to decide what you believe.

I can tell you this. 

In the big Pasadena picture, neither past interactions with the Tournament nor candidates’ voter registration matter.

If the race was ugly, the mailer did not make it better.

I see that.

But I’ve also seen Williams take punch after punch from Cole’s supporters, many of them progressives.  

Like her or not she has the right to punch back.

The voters will have to decide if it was a low blow or not. 

However, the ugliness won’t increase public safety in District 2. 

Nor will it combat overdevelopment or homelessness.

You know the stuff the residents care about. 

That’s what the candidates should be talking about – the issues. 

That doesn’t just go out to the voters and candidates in District 2. It goes out to all candidates and residents in Pasadena.

Dredging up the past is always a risk. 

There was a time when I was at the PW when I would go to the courthouse and look into arrest records, child support payments and the like. 

But we did it for all candidates and we were an endorsement newspaper. 

Many times those who requested we look into a candidate’s past  ended up not liking the results, because their candidate wasn’t squeaky clean.

No one is.

Trust me.   

I guarantee you, those asking us to dredge up the past on other candidates don’t want us to look at all sides.

Everybody in this thing has skeletons or somebody that will say they didn’t share candy with the entire class when they were in third grade. 

Everybody.

Again, trust me.  

So here’s some free advice to the voters. 

Don’t get distracted by the noise. Yes, there are some legit forums, kudos to those organizations. 

There is less than a month left in the election and it’s obvious where everybody stands, progressive and moderate or whatever the terms are. 

Do some research. It’s all out there.  

Think of the needs of your neighborhood and family.

And then vote. 

And then, God help us all.