Pasadena Councilman Strikes Back, Stalls Weekly Meeting

The Pasadena City Council abruptly cut short its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday after controversial Councilman Isaac Richard declared that he was conducting a filibuster and refused to yield to his colleagues, who had voted last week to censure him.

The disruption occurred about 30 minutes into the session. The council had considered only one item on a lengthy agenda--approving a measure to deprive Richard of travel expenses and free tickets to Rose Bowl events for a year.

Enraged, Richard blistered his colleagues as “self-important cowards” whose vote was “so clearly illegal, racist and overtly self-serving in terms of keeping the power structure intact.”

Then Richard, one of two African-Americans on the council, refused to allow discussion to proceed, threatening to spend the day reading aloud from “War and Peace.”

As council members filed out of the chamber, Richard said: “If you try to keep my district from being represented, nobody gets represented.”

Matters on the agenda were forwarded to next Tuesday’s meeting.

The council voted last week to censure Richard--for the second time in 10 months--after City Clerk Maria Stewart charged the councilman with sexual harassment for using obscenely sexual language to curse a group of city officials.

The other six council members appeared to be stunned by Tuesday’s developments.

“The city is being shortchanged,” Vice Mayor Kathryn Nack said. “The city is suffering.”