CORRESPONDENCE FROM 9/11/2023
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
McMiIlan, Acquanette (Netta)
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William M. Paparian
Friday, September 8, 2023 6:19 PM
PublicComment-AutoResponse
Agenda item # 19 Charter Amendment
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Dear Mayor and City Council:
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 some of you took in response to the state law that set a maximum of $5,500 in contributions but left it up to local cities to establish their own limits. In a stunning act of political sophistry some of you deemed contribution limits to be incumbent protection, having no limits leveled the playing field and made it easier for a challenger to get elected!
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. What other inference can be drawn from the campaign reports now being turned into the City Clerk with numerous $5,500 contributions for Mayor Gordo's campaign. And please, spare us the argument that these fat cat donors are merely interested in good government. Why not just put a For Sale sign up in front of 100 North Garfield Avenue? 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.
And did I mention term limits? We have one current office holder that 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."
1 9/11/2023
Item 19
Include campaign contribution limit and term limits, for both council members and the mayor, in the charter reform discussions.
Very Respectfully,
Former IVIayor of Pasadena
William Paparian
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