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| Mayor Pro Tem* Aladeen |
It would seem that your vote in Sierra Madre only counts now when it serves the needs of the City Hall power structure. And when it runs counter to what it is they desire, it just gets ignored.
The issue at hand is the continued validity of an unwritten tradition in Sierra Madre that a City Councilmember who received the most votes should be chosen as Mayor Pro Tem when no more senior Councilmember is available. A longstanding precedent that makes a lot of sense since it permits the voters to have a say on who should be next in line to become a Mayor. That this is a tradition at all indicates that at one time the wishes of the voters actually did mean something here.
But according to John Harabedian so democratic a tradition might not always be a good thing, and he has graciously consented to step up and fight this scourge on our behalf. In a James Figueroa piece published in today's Pasadena Star News titled "Walsh is new Sierra Madre mayor; Harabedian mayor pro tem" (click here), Harabedian decries what he refers to as a "dangerous precedent."
John Harabedian became mayor pro tem, but his appointment wound up deepening a division on the council because of different interpretations of last year's election results. "This is about upholding a tradition in Sierra Madre," Harabedian said Wednesday. "These are honorary positions, but they are leaders in the community. "
Councilman Chris Koerber opposed Harabedian's appointment, and didn't have enough support in his own bid for the mayor pro tem post, initiated by Councilman John Capoccia. Koerber, Capoccia and Harabedian were all elected for the first time in 2012, with Koerber collecting the most votes, 1,403.
That total would normally put Koerber first in the mayoral succession line, but the council majority argued that Koerber effectively took former Councilman Joe Mosca's place in the succession.
Mosca served as mayor in 2010-11 before resigning in 2011 and moving out of town. Koerber was elected to fill the remaining two years of the vacant term, and faced only one opponent instead running within a full field of five for two open seats.
Koerber didn't believe that was a fair interpretation. "I was elected as a council member just as everyone else on the council," he said. Koerber added that he would have needed to be re-elected next year before reaching the mayorship, and he has not yet decided whether he will run again.
Harabedian, who received 1,364 votes in the election, called it an unusual situation that could create a "dangerous precedent" of letting special election winners cut in line to be mayor.
The notion that a current sitting City Councilmember is somehow ineligible to become Mayor Pro Tem in Sierra Madre because of who occupied the seat previously is a novel one. Plus both Koerber and Harabedian were elected to the City Council on the exact same day last spring, so it would seem the notion that Chris has somehow "cut in line" is a specious one.
There is nothing in this city's election code stating that anyone elected in this way to the Sierra Madre City Council holds a position inferior to those of any other members of the City Council. To say that somebody elected in a special election is restricted from becoming Mayor Pro Tem, and therefore Mayor as well, not only severely disempowers that Councilmember, but also disenfranchises the voters who elected that person in the first place.
Harabedian's real problem, of course, is that he received less votes than Chris Koerber last April, and therefore according to our longstanding Sierra Madre tradition was not the next in line to become Mayor Pro Tem. And if there was anyone who "cut in line" Tuesday evening, it was John Harabedian.
Here is how the numbers break down. There were 4,983 votes cast for the four year seat. Harabedian received 1,364 votes. There were 2,602 votes cast in the special election seat. Chris received 1,403 votes. John received 27% of the possible votes, and Chris received 54% of the possible votes. Chris not only received more votes that John Harabedian, Chris also received a higher percentage of those votes.
Harabedian has made the claim that because he was running for a seat that had four contestants his vote total was somehow watered down. A claim that becomes discredited when you consider that Harabedian was running for election where two seats were open, whereas Chris Koerber was running for just that single seat. This is hardly complex math, and Harabedian should be ashamed of making so cynical a claim.
Bill Coburn turned in an excellent report yesterday on John Harabedian's pocket coup (click here), and contributed a very useful video to YouTube as well (click here). Here is how Bill recounted Harabedian's successful effort to bully his way into a position that by tradition he is not entitled to hold:
Councilman Harabedian then spoke, starting out by saying that “this is somewhat confusing to me, and it’s disappointing, and I don’t think this is the finest hour for two of my Council members, but I’m not surprised at this point to be honest with you.” He continued, pointing out that because there were more people running in his election, it was natural that the vote was going to be split farther, leaving the top vote getter in that election with fewer votes. He also pointed out that the seat which Koerber was filling, that of Joe Mosca, had already filled the Mayor position and that to re-seat the person in that seat would be “bucking a tradition here in Sierra Madre” of only allowing a Council member to be Mayor once during their four year term. He pointed out that “it’s unfair to our new Mayor and our outgoing Mayor to put them in this position, it should have been a night to celebrate their service…instead we have to talk through this like we’re children.” He went on to add that if Council members Koerber and Capoccia were not aware that Mosca had been Mayor during the term that Koerber is filling than “all’s fair” but that if they were aware then “I believe this is purely a opportune power grab, that’s all it is, and … this has severely scarred my perception of you two.”
Apparently we now live in a town where our vote takes a backseat to the requirements of privilege and power. Be it with the UUT, water rate increases, Board of Education elections, or the political ambitions and personal needs of John Harabedian, our right to choose by the use of the ballot is under assault.
The question now has to be asked, have things ever been quite this bad in Sierra Madre?
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