Pasadena elects Tornek as mayor
Pasadena Councilman Terry Tornek, a real estate developer and former city planner, has been chosen as the second directly elected mayor in the city’s history.
Tornek won 55.5% of the vote in Tuesday’s runoff election, according to initial returns from the Pasadena city clerk’s office. He defeated Councilwoman and Vice Mayor Jacque Robinson, who had 44.4%.
Their campaigns were waged under the cloud of a $6.4-million embezzlement scandal in which a midlevel employee is accused of siphoning money for nearly a decade from a fund that was earmarked for underground utilities.
Pasadena administrators and officials have faced fierce criticism since the incident was made public in January. Some credit Tornek’s questions about the finances of the fund for prompting the discovery of the embezzlement.
Financial accountability was a key issue in the election, with development, public safety and the unfinished 710 Freeway also figuring in the contest.
Tornek, the first candidate to announce, raised more than $200,000 during his campaign.
“I’m really invested in what’s happening in this town and felt like we could be doing a better job,” he said.
Tornek, 69, and Robinson, 36, a Pasadena native who at 28 was the youngest elected council member in city history, were the top two vote-getters in a field of six in the March 10 primary. Robinson, who did not return calls for comment, had raised about $130,000 as of April 4, according to campaign records.
Tornek, who began working as a planning director for the city in 1982, helped lead an effort to redevelop Old Pasadena, a once-blighted former downtown area that has become a trendy historic district.
He left government work in 1985 to develop and manage real estate properties, but he rejoined city government in 2005, when he was appointed to the Planning Commission.
He said his first order of business would be to try to rebuild the city’s credibility after the scandal.
“We want to be able to say with a straight face to our citizens that this is never going to happen again,” he said.
Tornek will be Pasadena’s first new mayor in 16 years. It’s mostly a ceremonial position, but Tornek doesn’t see it that way. The mayor appoints some positions for city bodies, and sets priorities for the budget and for council meetings. In light of the scandal, “there is a desire for more direct and active leadership,” he said.
Tornek will succeed Bill Bogaard, 76, who became the city’s first directly elected mayor in 1999. Bogaard, a popular mayor who was reelected by huge margins, is to be celebrated for his service during a ceremony Saturday in front of City Hall.
Tyron Hampton, a Pasadena Unified School District board member, was leading the race to fill Robinson’s council seat by 63 votes Tuesday night. Robinson had to give up her seat to run for mayor.
About 16,000 people voted in the primary, for a turnout rate of 17.4%, city spokesman William Boyer said. There are at least 1,300 additional provisional and vote-by-mail ballots to count. The final results are scheduled to be adopted May 4 at a City Council meeting.