Yesterday marked an interesting turn in events for the policitial scene of Pasadena: a term remainder election for mayor.
Why? Tom Delay.
Yeah, really. You see, Tom Delay, the embattled Congressman for Texas District 22, quit and in doing so, allowed a chance for his Liberal foe, Nick Lampson, the chance to return to Congress. Personally, I was going toward Lamspon’s side during all this until I got an email that showed how truly partisan he was (and played on the media’s demonizing of Delay). Then, I met Delay at the mayor’s house and heard his story. And I believed him. Then, he quit (not that I blame him).
Lampson won the special election for the remainder of the term. Now, we’re less than a year from the 08 elections, and it’s election time in District 22. Now, back to the story… The mayor of Pasadena, John Manlove is running for the Republican nomination for Dist 22 and stepped down as mayor to run the campaign.
So, on Saturday, we voted for who will serve the remainder of Manlove’s term. All the old mayors of Pasadena came out again, and even 2 or 3 that are currently on council. And, if it weren’t a conversation I had with a Pasadena Volunteer Firefighter, I’d never known who to vote for.
This fireman tried to contact someone to help with a construction entrance that saw large trucks merging into traffic at a dangerous construction entrance (imagine big trucks making a sharp 90 degree turn into the middle of a busy road – and they just came out because they were bigger). Calls were made to other councilpersons (even the mayor’s “action” line) to no avail… and the fireman happened to bump into Mr. Riggs, where the fireman explained the issue even though it wasn’t in Riggs’ district. The NEXT DAY, there were flagmen and police at the intersection. Several days later, the entire entrance was shutdown.
Now, it’s just a single event, but it shows that Riggs listened and acted. That’s the reason he got our vote. So, there’s a runoff… We’ll be voting again.