PASADENA : As Suit Looms, Hunt for New City Attorney Is Put on Hold

The Pasadena City Council has called off its search for a permanent city attorney, underscoring the problems that continue to rock the city’s legal arm, including a discrimination lawsuit filed recently by four current or former female staff lawyers.

The search, canceled Monday, had drawn 60 applicants, including interim City Atty. Cristina Sierra, who initially had pledged not to seek the job. No date has been set for resuming the search, but it will be opened up to new applicants, Mayor William M. Paparian said.

“It is important that the mayor and City Council can feel confident when they select Pasadena’s next city attorney that the selection process, the organizational environment and all other factors are conducive to successful service by the city attorney,” Paparian said in a prepared statement.

Paparian declined comment on whether the recently filed lawsuit contributed to the decision to abort the search. But Councilman Paul Little said the suit was a factor. With tongue only half in cheek, Little summed up the problem this way: “By next week, I figure the entire legal staff of the city will be suing us.”

Meanwhile, the nine lawyers in the city attorney’s office labor in an environment that one said is marked by uncertainty and low morale. “It’s a very difficult time to work for the city,” said Assistant City Atty. Nicholas G. Rodriguez.

The four women attorneys--Ann H. Higginbotham, Ann S. Rider, Carolyn Y. Williams and Julia L. Weston--filed their lawsuit in Superior Court on April 27. The suit alleges that former City Atty. Victor Kaleta and other city officials discriminated against them by failing to include them in a round of promotions in 1992.

Kaleta, who denied the discrimination allegation, resigned in August under fire from the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and women’s groups.

The City Council hired Sierra to restore civility and boost morale in the embattled office. But the lawsuit alleges that Sierra has continued to discriminate against the women lawyers, even laying off one of them in retaliation for the attorney’s complaints.

Sierra said of the suit: “In my opinion, the allegations are unfounded.”

Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Sierra discriminated against the four lawyers by excluding them from having any meaningful input into administrative decisions while including white male staff attorneys. It also alleges that Sierra required the women to obtain approvals for their work, a requirement that did not apply to the office’s male attorneys.

The suit contends that Sierra also attempted to ruin the careers of the women by, among other things, attempting to force them into positions that did not match their legal training and experience. And the suit accuses Sierra and the city of laying off Weston at the start of the year in retaliation for her complaint of discrimination. Sierra declined to comment on why Weston was laid off.

Sierra’s bid to become Pasadena’s permanent top lawyer has itself become a contentious issue. At the council’s request, Sierra had agreed she would not seek the job when she was hired last August as the interim city attorney.

Because of the charged atmosphere in the office, council members did not want to appoint someone from within to the permanent spot. But the council voted 4 to 2 earlier this year to amend Sierra’s contract to allow her to compete for the post.