First of all, I want to thank everyone for their participation in the 1st Annual Proctorformayor.Com Year End Awards and want to also thank everyone for their patience while I tabulated the votes.

There were a lot of interesting choices, some surprises, and some not-so-surprising results for my first attempt at honoring Pasadena politics through a Democratic process.

Note that when people chose more than one selection for a nomination, I threw out the vote (unless it was designated that they had one choice over the other in case they only had to choose one). I threw out write-in’s - maybe we’ll try that next year. I did count incomplete ballots but not ones where they obviously came in minutes apart, voting for one category and that was it (see the results for Reporter of the Year). That’s why the numbers aren’t even in every category.

Without further suspense…..here are the results that YOU, the faithful readers of this very website, decided upon.

Best Overall Pasadena Councilmember

Chris Holden

District 3 City Councilman Chris Holden has overwhelming popularity and support among the readers out there. Voters spoke of his willingness to fight for what’s right, his willigness to call other Councilmembers on their bullshit, and the fact that he doesn’t always appear to be part of the “Good Ol Boys & Girls” country club of Pasadena politics.

Here’s the breakdown of votes:

  1. District 3’s Chris Holden - 404 (78.3%)
  2. Former District 1 Joyce Streator - 89 (17.2%)
  3. District 7 Sid Tyler - 8
  4. District 2 Margaret McAustin - 5
  5. District 5 Victor Gordo - 3
  6. District 1 Jacque Robinson - 3
  7. District 4 Steve Haderlein - 2
  8. Mayor Bill Bogaard - 1
  9. Former District 2 Paul Little - 1
  10. District 6 Steve Madison - 0

Worst Overall Pasadena Councilmember

Jacque Robinson & Steve Madison

Yes, ladies and gentleman, this one is just too close to call. In fact, it’s an exact tie, even when I threw in my one tiebreaker vote. 2/3 of my readers are split on just who is the real “winner”. Now, Steve Madison’s an obvious winner because of his horrible attendance record in 2007 and his general douchebaggery. Jacque Robinson was a little bit of a surprise to me though - seems people aren’t fond of an Ad Hoc committee they feel won’t accomplish anything and are wary of Jacque’s commitment to Pasadena if Barack Obama begins winning more primaries (since she works for him). So, congratulations to the two “winners”. Here’s the breakdown:

  1. Jacque Robinson - 168 (33.5%)
  2. Steve Madison - 168 (33.5%)
  3. Bill Bogaard - 71 (14.1%)
  4. Steve Haderlein - 40
  5. Margaret McAustin - 26
  6. Victor Gordo - 15
  7. Paul Little - 7
  8. Chris Holden - 4
  9. Sid Tyler - 2
  10. Joyce Streator - 1

Best Pasadena Blog

Centinel (or Publius) from Foothill Cities

Amazingly popular (and fun), Foothill Cities is the winner of the 1st annual “Best Pasadena Blog” award. Now mind you, the guys over there do a great job covering the San Gabriel Valley and entire “foothill city” area, it should be known that their presence in Pasadena is very strong and popular. Congrats to the best blog out there right now.

  1. Foothill Cities Blog - 247 (47.9%)
  2. Under The Dome - 114 (22.1%)
  3. The Adventures of Aaron Proctor - 103 (20.0%)
  4. Eye Level Pasadena - 34
  5. Pasadena’s Political Underbelly - 9
  6. West Coast Grrlie Blather - 7
  7. Pasadena Pundit - 2

Pasadena Moment of the Year

The City’s $5 million buyout of a strip club while people were getting killed in the Northwest really pissed a lot of people off. Seriously, this category wasn’t just voted on - people waxed on everything from how angry they were when this happened to their disdain for the handsome Councilmember behind this whole thing. While I thought other issues would top the list, it’s obvious people are still stinging about this entire decision.

  1. City’s $5 Million Strip Club Buyout - 425 (82%)
  2. Sock On Mexican/Gang Violence - 59 (11.4%)
  3. Barbecuegate/District 1 Runoff Election - 22
  4. China Float Saga - 5
  5. Aaron Proctor’s Political Arrival - 2
  6. Bakewell’s Breakdown - 1
  7. Peloton Troubles - 1
  8. Melekian: City Manager/City Police Chief - 1
  9. Isaac Haqq’s Scandal In NorCal - 1
  10. City Hall Reopens - 1

Best Pasadena News Source

Photo credit: Eyelevelpasadena.com

The Star-News beats out everyone else, according to voters. A lot of people were angry that I didn’t put up the Pasadena Now. Well, cutting and pasting press releases isn’t exactly being a “news source”. A lot of people also skipped this category, deciding that the PSN was a clear cut winner and it really didn’t have “competition”. I disagree, but hey, I’m just glad people voted.

  1. Pasadena Star-News - 412 (80.3%)
  2. Pasadena Weekly - 94 (18.3%)
  3. Pasadena Journal - 7
  4. Pasadena Independent/Pasadena Cosmopolitan - 0

Most Exciting Council Election

Without a doubt, Robin Salzer vs. Jacque Robinson takes the cake (or maybe the BBQ ribs, in this case). Some have even called this the most exciting Council election in Pasadena of all time. The votes definitely reflect that line of thinking. Barbecuegate!!!

  1. Salzer vs. Robinson - 301 (60.3%)
  2. Lomako vs. McAustin - 113 (22.6%)
  3. Proctor vs. Bogaard - 85
  4. Masuda vs. Haderlein - 0
  5. Madison vs. Brown - 0

Reporter of the Year

Definitely the closest race that wasn’t a tie. A lot of quasi-fake email accounts signed up to vote for one of the candidates so I didn’t count them. This was actually the category, believe it or not, that took the longest to count votes (587 people voted)…so I guess either that means the title of Proctorformayor.com’s 2007 Reporter of the Year is really worth it to a lot of people or someone has an ego almost as huge as my own. This category also doesn’t reflect people’s reading habits (or maybe honesty reflect them?) The PSN destroyed the Weekly in the best news source but Andre Coleman & Todd Ruiz were neck-and-neck in this one. Coleman edges out Todd but, as you will see, not by very much.

  1. Andre Coleman - 298 (50.8%)
  2. Todd Ruiz - 281 (47.9%)
  3. Joe Piasecki - 6
  4. Joe Hopkins - 2

Most Influential Pasadenan

Me!

First of all, I’d like to thank the Academy…no, seriously. I know most of the votes were biased due to my general awesomeness but people did have legitimate reasons. Most of them were because of the fact a lot of people feel they wouldn’t be paying attention at all to what’s going on if it weren’t for my memorable run for Mayor in 2007. I personally voted for the Bogaard clan.

  1. Aaron Proctor - 209 (42.9%)
  2. Bill & Claire Bogaard - 122 (25.0%)
  3. Ann Lau - 59
  4. Martin Truitt - 51
  5. Larry Wilson - 27
  6. Joe Hopkins - 14
  7. Rev. Jean Burch - 3
  8. Wayne Lusvardi - 3

2007 Hall Of Fame Induction

Former District 1 Councilwoman Joyce Streator

Joyce should be commended for her long-standing and respectful work, not only in her community but all of Pasadena. She received a resounding majority of the votes and will be added to my “Pasadena Hall of Fame” when I get around to adding that part to the site.

  1. Joyce Streator - 312 (61.2%)
  2. Chris Holden - 102 (20.1%)
  3. Bill Bogaard - 86
  4. Paul Little - 5
  5. Bill Bibbiani - 4
  6. Bill Thomson - 1

So there you have it. Around 510 to 520 people took part in this “election”. I am thankful for not only the people who participated but the amount of traffic this website has received since posting the nominees here and on Foothill Cities and Todd Ruiz re-posting the link on his blog.

For those who didn’t win or feel slighted by the readers of this blog, remember - it’s only Proctor’s “silly little website”.

Stand & Deliver.

- AP