Saturday, September 22, 2007

Manlove vs. Lampson, Pasadena race opens up


I have been told that Pasadena's Mayor Manlove has decided he will run for Tom DeLay's old seat. Manlove has a large picture of himself and DeLay in his office and they are BFF. Manlove is term limited in Pasadena and this explains what he will do with the money he raised last year in Houston. He has over $332,000 in his political campaign war chest. It appears this will be a crowded Republican field with Robert Talton, Sekula Gibbs and others competing to face Democratic incumbent Nick Lampson. The official announcement may be delayed as he must step down as mayor if he is seeking another office.

Manlove is Latino on his mother's side and may have received minority set aside contracts for his publishing business. He has used some of his recent contributions to finally learn to speak Spanish through a Berlitz course.

It is unclear how strong Lampson's support is in District 22 although Democratic activists are less enthusiastic due to some of his recent votes on the Iraq War and civil liberties. Has this gained him some independent votes to make up for fewer activists campaigning for him or donating to him?

Manlove seeking Lampson's seat will also open up a race in Pasadena for mayor. The likely players are Don Harrison, Dana Philibert, and former Pasadena mayor Johnny Isbell or current council member J.J. Isbell. By coincidence ;-), brief bios of all can be found here except for former mayor Johnny, J.J.'s father.

My Take on the Pasadena Mayoral candidates

Normally, I would be supportive of Don Harrison, who at least is good for seniors, but there have been many ethical issues in his past including pleading guilty to libel and lying about it, shutting down citizen speech in council chambers, and refusing to give up his council seat after losing it. My previous posts on Harrison are here. Dana is personally pleasant but participated in the free speech shut down and has been a reliable supporter of Manlove. J.J. has shown some independence but has not distinguished himself yet in politics and seems more interested in the Pasadena rodeo. Johnny Isbell's time appears to be past and he had switched to the Republican party in 2001 in a case of political opportunism. On the other hand, he deserves credit for helping develop Pasadena's neighborhood network association. Maybe former council woman Nona Phillips will get my support if she tries again for mayor.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Nona Philips has never ever been a council person in this city. Are you possibly thinking of Jerri Neely?

Gary said...

You are correct, of course. Don't know how that slipped in there except that I am bad with names. You realize this is two months old and many pages ago don't you?

Gary said...

I should add, since I am dealing with old comments on this post, that some people have said Manlove is Latino on his mother's side, some from his father's, and some that it is unknown because he is adopted and some that he isn't really Latino.

I think the last is closest.

Unknown said...

Yes I do realize this is old news, I just thought it should be noted about Nona. I too doubt that Manlove is latino at all but I have nothing to base that on.I met A J Christ after the forum at SJC & he seems to me to be really interested in the city but not into politics and also Chief Mike Massey told him that he was really liked what he had to say as a candidate. He would make a great mayor I think but he will need a lot more support and heap more signs.