San Rafael Saga: Mayor Insists On Article Corrections

September 11, 2022

PASADENA, Calif. — Soon after publishing our interview with Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo, he called to say that he wanted us to make corrections and had much more to say about the controversy surrounding San Rafael Elementary School.

The controversy involved a video of school principal Rudy Ramirez making race and gender-fueled statements in the aftermath of what he believed to be an unwarranted 911 call that led to the brief detainment of his custodian.

In our original interview, we said that Gordo did not know who recorded the controversial video of Ramirez. He said this was not true. Despite our detailed notes, we honor the mayor’s pronouncement that he knew it was a private security guard who had covertly recorded Ramirez.

Throughout the ensuing 90 minute call, the mayor repeatedly said we were “just wrong” to call him “the CEO [Chief Executive Officer] of the city” and we must retract or amend accordingly. He said his role was “ceremonial” per city code. He said he did not have the authority which we implied that he had, according to our initial interview with him.

Gordo said that both he and we had to be “respectful of the city charter.” He also said, “It is very clear that I don’t have the authority to direct the City Manager.” Gordo added that he believed former mayor Terry Tornek “was crossing that line,” implying that Tornek was acting more like a CEO than a ceremonial leader.

Under Article IV Section 406 of the Pasadena Code of Ordinances, “The Mayor shall be a voting member of the City Council and shall preside at meetings of the City Council. The Mayor shall act as chief executive of the City in performing all acts required to be performed under the laws of the State of California and this Charter. The Mayor shall be recognized as the official head of the City for all ceremonial purposes, by the Courts for the purpose of serving civil process and by the Governor of the State for military purposes. The Mayor shall have a voice and vote in all proceedings of the City Council” Under Section 409 of the Code, “The City Council shall appoint and may remove the City Manager, City Attorney, City Prosecutor, and City Clerk.” And under Section 410 of the Code, “The City Council may, by ordinance, abolish, consolidate, modify or separate any department, office, agency, board, commission or committee, and may assign, reassign, or modify any functions, powers or duties.”

The language is clear. The mayor is the chief executive. The mayor has authority. The mayor has an important voting and policy voice. The mayor is also the city’s point person for the Governor. Yes, the mayor also represents the city for all ceremonial purposes, such as a parade, but his job is not “ceremonial” as Gordo claimed — in fact, to the contrary.

Therefore, we deny Gordo’s demand to retract our statement about him being the CEO of the city, primarily because his own city code concurs with our assertions.

In his public letter that castigated embattled San Rafael Elementary School principal Rudy Ramirez, Gordo said, “[Ramirez] made remarks that were not factual.” Gordo himself was not being factual with us about his government role.

He cherry-picked and misused language from his own municipal code to implore us that his role is ceremonial. Deeper into our conversation, Gordo said, “Do I think the mayor’s seat has the power of persuasion? Absolutely.” Still, he reiterated that he was not the city’s chief executive.

In his letter condemning Ramirez, Gordo said, “Our comments are a reflection of ourselves.” Yes, words do matter. But acts also matter. Taxpayers should know where power resides — as in a CEO of a city or a City Manager or a School Superintendent — and how those in power obtain it, define it, wield it, account for it and even deny it.

This is why it is important to understand Gordo’s motivation to deny our assertions that he is the chief executive with considerable authority.

Perhaps it’s because Gordo wants to distance himself from the fact that his public castigation of Ramirez was based almost solely on a video that might have been illegally obtained, according to our preliminary investigation.

We repeatedly attempted to ask Gordo if this were the case. He said he was a labor attorney, not someone who knew the legalities of obtaining or distributing the video.

We repeatedly asked Gordo why he would not first check with the Pasadena City Attorney to determine the legality of the private security guard’s video before he issued his public castigation of Ramirez. He did not answer but said he did share his letter with then City Manager Cynthia Kurtz.

We pressed the mayor, no less than a half dozen times, on whether he thought he should have gathered all the information about that video and its potential illegality before he released his letter castigating Ramirez to hundreds of thousands if not millions of persons. Gordo did not directly answer.

Instead, he repeatedly said it was Pasadena Unified School District Board Member Scott Phelps and Superintendent Brian McDonald who pressed the issue with police and perhaps demanded the release of the video of Ramirez.

We pressed the mayor, no less than a half dozen times, on whether he thought he should know how that potentially illegal video of Ramirez became public after the security guard provided it to the police, especially since he is the chief executive of the city and since he based his entire public letter on that video.

Gordo said “It took me a while for everything to sink in after reviewing the video and report. The important thing is that we should move on.” He said he learned about the incident Monday or Tuesday. He published his letter Thursday.

We asked the mayor, no less than a half dozen times, whether he believed — as a father of two and husband of a school teacher — that it was acceptable how a private security guard recorded a mother and her child without their knowledge. The mother, a San Rafael school parent, and her child were not only pictured and heard in the video with Ramirez, but seconds after they left the scene, Ramirez called the mother a “nosy fucking punk” and hinted that she might be the person who called the police.”

Gordo did not answer the question.

A Pasadena public school teacher who read our interview with the mayor said, “On public property, in 2022, cc cameras are not news, nor are body cameras.” She makes a point, and that may very well be the case. However, it should be news. In fact, it should concern every citizen in this city, especially its chief executive, Gordo.

This is not simply an issue of Ramirez’s hateful, misogynistic speech being showcased writ large on video, this is also an issue of how a school district contracted a private security service that took covert video of a school parent and her child, thus far without recourse.

It’s an unsettling if not dangerous precedent. A private security guard that the District hired with taxpayer dollars — but without the public’s general knowledge — can walk on to any school property and record principals, teachers, parents and even children without their consent or even knowledge then share those recordings with police departments, other government insiders and the general public for whatever reasons he or they want, including to humiliate, curry favor, distract from or influence critical decisions. Is this where we are with public schools and their private contractors?

I asked Superintendent McDonald:

• Did he condone the covert recording by private security company California Metro Patrol — that he and the District hired?

• Did the contract between Metro and the District stipulate that it is acceptable for the private security company to take covertly recorded video, even including children?

• Is such recording acceptable to him and the District?

• Is he aware of CA Penal Code 632 and other privacy laws?

• Why did he and the District deem it necessary to hire Metro in the first place?

We will share McDonald’s response when he provides one.

McDonald was at the center of another firestorm three years ago when District Security Guard Billy Coleman facilitated a sexual encounter between two minor students for which the District paid nearly $900,000 to settle. Instead of firing Coleman, McDonald and the District moved Coleman to a different school. The District placed Coleman on leave only after reports surfaced that McDonald and company had not fired him. Coleman received $83,000 from the District in 2020, according to Transparent California.

McDonald has determined that Ramirez, who earns $167,ooo in total pay, will also remain at the helm of San Rafael. Many of the school’s parents and staff agree with that decision.

Prior to the determination that Ramirez would keep his job, the parents and staff sent a letter to McDonald, the School Board and Gordo. The group said that Ramirez’s language was merely “inappropriate” and that it was a “distraction” from the central issue of police responses.

However, dozens of other parents have said that Ramirez intimidated, bullied, displayed misogynistic language and behavior and consistently demanded that those who disagreed with him be hushed. According to a few of these parents, the District lightly reprimanded Ramirez for some of these acts. McDonald said that he would not discuss disciplinary matters.

Money, reputation, power and politics are always part and parcel of such decision-making. McDonald and other gatekeepers would have faced consequences should they have terminated Ramirez.

San Rafael Elementary is a sought after public school with a successful track record of fundraising, which many attribute to Ramirez. Pasadena’s public schools continue to run on fumes while its private and charter schools continue to dominate the educational landscape.

Were Ramirez fired, parents hinted at abandoning the sought after Spanish immersion school, which set up a significant challenge for McDonald who already saw multiple school closings during his tenure. This is the power that Ramirez and his supporters wield.

McDonald and other government gatekeepers also have a lot to preserve besides their reputations. According to Transparent California, McDonald earned roughly $365,ooo in total pay for 2020. The City Manager’s total pay was just under $450,000 while the Asst. City Manager earned $380,000. Police Chief Jason Clawson earned approximately $370,0oo.

Those with handsome income don’t ordinarily prioritize biting the hands that feed them.

Pasadena’s chief executive Gordo makes roughly $30,000 with benefits worth $50,000. He is, however, able to continue practicing law.

A couple hours after our lengthy conversation, Gordo texted to offer thanks for the conversation. He also wanted to clarify that he did not mean to say that Pasadenans should simply move on from the Ramirez incident.

Gordo clarified the he wanted to move on from the heightened emotional state toward solutions. He said, “Let us learn from this painful experience and keep in mind that race-based words are divisive, breed resentment and ultimately corrode our community — even when denounced, let alone when they are not.”

We sincerely appreciate the in-depth and often challenging conversations with Mayor Gordo, Superintendent McDonald and other officials. We encourage such conversations to continue for the sake of the constituents who elected them or pay their wages. We will not, however, accept discussions that nullify full disclosure of critical facts or freedom of expression, no matter how formidable or inconvenient. Speaking of which…

Ramirez is a passionate, talented, learned and giving man. He is also a man whose behavior on and off camera was not “inappropriate” or a “distraction.” It was caustic and hateful and every bit wrong.

Ramirez presumed that the stranger he was talking to would accept his malicious statements. He did not know or apparently care if that person’s mother or father or wife or partner was white. He did not apparently care if they had crossed the torrential Rio Grande for a brighter future in America while Ramirez said on video, “I’m a Chicano, I’m not a fucking wetback,” a derogatory term for imperiled Mexican nationals who immigrated illegally to the U.S. for safe harbor.

Ramirez did not apparently care if that security guard was offended by calling women fucking punks and fucking bitches. He assumed all of what he said was acceptable, whether on camera or not, because of his own personal history and because of greater historical precedent.

However, perhaps Ramirez also felt endowed with such jurisdiction because he was a male in a leadership position at a popular institution and a male with a history of demanding his way or the highway… and getting it.

In Roberts’ and Rizzo’s “Psychology of American Racism,” the Stanford research team said, “American racism is alive and well.” According to their research, people’s positive perceptions of themselves often extend to positive perceptions of their group, which leads to an ingroup preference.

They said that, because people care about cooperative alliances, they intuitively interpret the groups that they are assigned to as requiring their cooperation, trust and support. Critically, the desire to establish and maintain one’s position within a group can also lead individuals to prioritize ingroup loyalty over moral concerns.

There is no disputing that white persons have disenfranchised if not dissolved Latinos, Black persons and Indigenous Americans at every turn. The ire with which Ramirez spoke clearly connects to this context, and rightfully so.

But Ramirez has been principal at his school for 10 years. That is his choice. He knows the environment, challenging as it may be. He knows the neighbors and the neighborhood, challenging as they may be or are.

It’s easy to sweepingly label nosy white fucking neighbors. It’s hard to develop solutions to systemic fractures founded upon race and class. But Ramirez certainly knows life is very hard. Life strikes lightning at any given moment and often.

Calling women “fucking bitches” and steamrolling through challenges makes him look weak, not strong. It exudes an utter lack of control and an utter appetite for power. It also feeds a narrative for the very people he accuses of being racist or unjust to point the finger at him and say, “We told you so.”

Ramirez should not get multiple free passes for abusive behavior. Superintendents should not get free passes for enabling dubious behavior. Police should not get unlimited free passes for a history of abusive behavior. Private security guards and their company owners should not get free passes for potentially breaking the law and abusing the limited authority they have, which can endanger the privacy rights and lives of children and families.

And, mayors should not get free passes for trying to convince us that they are not the CEO of a city where something needs to be done about all of this.