Controversial Judge Wages Tough Fight

Watching the Pasadena judicial campaign is like spending a rainy day at the racetrack: With all the mud flying around it’s hard to tell exactly who’s in the lead.

After 11 years as a Pasadena Municipal Court judge, Elvira Mitchell is facing a tough reelection campaign against Pasadena attorney Fred Rotenberg.

She is being called “incompetent,” “inconsistent” and “insufferable.” And that’s just from her co-workers.

Conspicuously less is being said about Mitchell’s challenger, Rotenberg. It’s not that there is nothing to say--the attorney has been described in the give-and-take of campaign rhetoric as everything from affable to dishonest. It’s just that this campaign isn’t necessarily about him. To hear some people tell it, Rotenberg could be just about anybody and still gain the support he’s gotten from a host of Pasadena officials and two of Mitchell’s colleagues.

“I’m backing Fred because I can’t stand Mitchell anymore,” said Judge Judson Morris, who has worked with the incumbent for more than a decade. “I swear if Mitchell gets reelected I’m going to figure out a way to get out of that courthouse.”

Which would be just fine by Mitchell. Last December she said Morris should be disciplined by the Commission on Judicial Performance for publicly criticizing her in a statement of support for Rotenberg.

Although she never formally asked the commission to investigate her colleague, Mitchell said, “Anything Judge Morris says at this point in the game, honey, you can bet is a lie.”

Amid all this interoffice bickering--as two longtime enemies hash it out in headlines and campaign speeches, Rotenberg is calling himself “a nice guy” and hoping his good temperament will sway voters.

“If judges like their colleague, they will endorse their colleague,” said Rotenberg. “If they don’t like their colleague, they’ll remain neutral. Not saying anything; that speaks volumes.”

And to actually receive a public tongue-lashing from a colleague has left Mitchell spending much of her campaign time and energy defending herself against the statements made by Morris.

“What troubles me about the election is everyone is playing up what Morris is saying. . . . But [he’s] not running,” said Municipal Court Counselor Ed Bryant, who has worked in the Pasadena courthouse since 1974. “They want to get rid of her. The issue is the old boys have decided it’s time there’s no more women on the bench. . . . And Rotenberg is somebody they could get to run against her.”

Rotenberg, 40, runs a 13-year-old private law practice in Pasadena with his wife, Lori. Since 1986, he has also served as judge pro tem for various county municipal and superior courts. And in 1994, he was appointed commissioner pro tem in Pasadena Municipal Court.

An African American, Mitchell is one of the only minority judges in the San Gabriel Valley. She began her career 26 years ago in the district attorney’s office, and has been on the bench in Pasadena for more than 10 years.

According to the Los Angeles Bar Assn.’s judicial qualifications rating department, Mitchell is “well qualified” to be a judge.

Rotenberg received a “qualified” rating by the association.

But with each victory comes another setback for Mitchell, who’s “fight to keep my job” has cost her well over Rotenberg’s estimated $50,000 campaign costs.

In its only judicial endorsement this year, the League of Women Prosecutors dealt a blow to Mitchell’s campaign by coming out in favor of Rotenberg.

The 112-member organization of men and women “does not tend to give judicial endorsements very frequently,” said Diana Summerhayes, president of the organization and a prosecutor with the district attorney’s office.

Rotenberg asked for the group’s endorsement in March, two months after the league had voted to deny Mitchell’s request for the group’s backing. Although he has only served a limited time on the bench as a judge pro tem, Rotenberg “got high marks for what people thought was good judicial demeanor, ethical behavior and fairness,” Summerhayes said.

In contrast, the league heard “overwhelming negative response” about Mitchell during interviews with prosecutors and city attorneys who have gone before her in the court room, Summerhayes said. The group did not interview colleagues.

“The response we got was that there were a lot of problems with her handling her calendar,” said Summerhayes, who did not directly participate in the investigation. “She was not current in her knowledge of the law and not willing to listen to those who are arguing the law.”

Still, a prosecutor who was recently in Mitchell’s courtroom, Deputy Dist. Atty. Elizabeth Abbott Siegmund, called the judge “very fair.”

Siegmund argued before Mitchell a few months ago in a child molestation case--Mitchell’s first felony sentencing case, and even Rotenberg said the judge “gave a very admirable sentence” of 12 years in state prison for a man convicted of molesting his 11-year-old stepdaughter.

With prosecutors debating Mitchell’s competence and Morris standing out as Rotenberg’s most vocal supporter, some Pasadena court veterans are skeptical about the whole election.

“The question you have to ask yourself is, ‘What is this really about?’ ” Bryant said.