Anglo Politician’s Victory in Heavily Latino District Creates Division in Pasadena : Government: Bill Crowfoot’s win over Joe Morales in District 5 sparks charges that he ran a negative campaign and appealed to white voters’ fears.

There were recriminations and regrets in the aftermath of Tuesday’s City Council election in Pasadena, in which a Spanish-speaking Anglo defeated a Latino to represent a predominantly Latino district.

Even as Joe Morales was congratulating Bill Crowfoot for winning their hotly contested District 5 race, Crowfoot’s critics were slamming him for running what they said was a negative campaign that appealed to the fears of Anglo voters.

One Morales backer, Councilman Isaac Richard, angrily told Crowfoot that he was “going to be miserable” on the council and threatened to start a recall drive. Richard said Crowfoot had “no right” to represent a predominantly minority district.

This week’s election was the first under a redistricting map drawn to give maximum opportunity to Latino voters and candidates. Latinos, 27% of the city’s population, are Pasadena’s largest minority group, but there has never been a Latino on the council.

Latinos, 58% of the population in District 5, did not register or vote in sufficient numbers to overcome Crowfoot’s solid support among Anglos, Morales’ supporters said.

“Crowfoot did a better job of keeping (the Latinos) from voting than we did of getting them to vote,” said Tim Brick, Morales’ campaign manager. He charged that Crowfoot’s campaign had “spread doubts” among Latino voters rather than “empowering” them.

Crowfoot and his supporters denied that they had run a negative campaign. Hard work won the race, as well as Morales’ emphasis on “ethnic symbolism” rather than substantive issues, they said.

“I don’t think (Morales) got his good points over to the voters,” said Crowfoot strategist Doug Kahn, who claimed Morales’ only clear strong point had been the fact that he is Latino.

Crowfoot said he walked every street in the district, talked to voters in English and Spanish and wrote hundreds of personal letters to voters.

Crowfoot won with 663 votes, 55% of the total; Morales received 471, or 39%. Two other candidates, painting contractor Ken Saureman and book salesman Christopher Bray, were not factors, collecting 70 votes between them.

In other council races, incumbents William Thomson and Chris Holden beat back challenges. Holden won the District 3 seat by a landslide over his opponent, Robert Edwards, the manager of a large low-income housing development in northwest Pasadena. Thomson also won handily, though lawyer Dorrie Poole carried several precincts in District 7 in the southeast part of the city.

“Dorrie threw a scare into him,” Mayor Rick Cole said of Thomson, a former mayor who has been on the council for 12 years.

The voters also decided a long-running debate about whether they should be governed by a city council or a board of directors, approving 2 to 1 a City Charter amendment that favored council control.

But nothing aroused emotions as much as the race in District 5, where 83% of the residents are black, Asian or Latino. So incensed was Richard at the result that he threatened a lawsuit under the U.S Voting Rights Act and an immediate recall drive against Crowfoot. State law would not permit such a move until Crowfoot has been in office six months.

As candidates and their supporters milled around the Pasadena Convention Center, where the votes were counted Tuesday night, Richard confronted Crowfoot.

“You’re going to be miserable on the City Council!” he said angrily, thrusting his face close to Crowfoot’s. “You’re not going to last. You know damn well you have no right to represent a district that’s 83% minority.”

Crowfoot walked away from Richard without responding.

In his campaign, Crowfoot assailed Morales for never having voted in Pasadena, although Morales has lived in the city for five years. Morales said he maintained his voter registration at his parents’ home in East Los Angeles until six months ago because it was a convenient mail drop during a time he was often traveling.