Three-way race
Two of three District 3 candidates faced gun charges in the 1990s
http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/cms/story/detail/three_way_race/11716/
By
André Coleman
,
Kevin Uhrich
12/12/2012
Two of four candidates hoping to fill the
Pasadena City Council seat left vacant by recently elected Assemblyman
Chris Holden were charged in the 1990s in separate gun-related
incidents, the Weekly has learned.
John
Kennedy, currently a Los Angeles Urban League executive, and Ishmael
Trone, a member of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce board of directors,
faced separate charges in two incidents in 1993 and 1997, respectively.
Along
with Trone and Kennedy, the Rev. Nicholas Benson of Summit Evangelical
Free Church of Pasadena has qualified for the March 5 municipal election
ballot.
In other council
races, incumbent District 5 Councilman Victor Gordo will be seeking a
fourth four-year term against former US Marine and Pasadena Marathon
organizer Israel Estrada, and District 7 Councilman Terry Tornek will
seek a second term, running unopposed, according to City Clerk Mark
Jomsky.
Kennedy refused to go
into detail about his felony acquittal when contacted by the Weekly. “It
happened almost 20 years ago. It was an unfortunate incident, and I was
found not guilty of all the charges,” Kennedy said of the incident in
which he stood trial after seriously wounding a man in what he described
as an “accident.”
“What is
important is I was exonerated and it happened 20 years ago and I have
chosen to move on and do other positive things,” said Kennedy, brother
of Lena Kennedy, a top fundraiser for the Obama campaign and a
confidante of First Lady Michelle Obama.
Trone,
meanwhile, told the Weekly he had been working for a bail bond company
owned by his parents in 1997 when he tried to board a plane with a
loaded 22-calibre pistol in his bag.
Trone
said his Pasadena neighborhood was so dangerous he did not feel safe
coming to work late at night without a gun. Running late for a
conference, Trone said he forgot his gun was in his briefcase while
trying to board a plane. He was later charged with misdemeanor
possession of a concealed weapon, resulting in a fine.
“That’s
what led to my civic involvement, dealing with crime around our
business,” Trone said. “I didn’t feel safe for me or my family. My
parents … had multiple confrontations and were held up several times. It
was a dangerous situation coming to the office in this neighborhood in
1997.”
In 1987, Kennedy was
the youngest person elected to head the Pasadena NAACP Branch. Trone,
who has lived in Pasadena for 30 years, is a former chair of the Fair
Oaks Project Area Committee (PAC). He’s also served as vice chair of the
Community Development Committee. Benson is the former vice chair of the
Northwest Commission and current president of the Ministerial
Association.
There will be a runoff election on April
16 between the two top vote-getters for Holden’s former seat if none of
the three candidates take 50 percent plus one vote of the ballots cast.
The
council has voted to fill Holden’s position by appointing someone not
running for his seat. The council will be taking applications until Dec.
27 and is expected to pick a temporary replacement for Holden in
February.