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Bruce Barrows had his own spreadsheet dictating to Cerritos City Councils how to rotate the Mayor, despite not being in office.
By Brian Hews
Cerritos Mayor Grace Hu, Mayor pro tem Mark Pulido, and Councilman Frank Yokoyama have been criticized by some residents that they didn’t follow the “Cerritos tradition” of a normal mayoral rotation.
During the April 2017 transition, as City Clerk Vida Barone asked for mayoral nominations, Yokoyama immediately nominated Hu, with Pulido quickly seconding the motion.
An audible gasp could be heard from the audience at the packed council chambers followed by loud applause after the nomination was approved by a vote of 3-2.
Pulido was subsequently nominated as Mayor pro tem and approved by the same 3-2 vote followed by the same loud applause.
Councilmember Jim Edwards lashed out, criticizing Hu, Pulido and Yokoyama for “not following the tradition of mayoral rotation and passing up the nomination of then Mayor pro tem Solanki as mayor of Cerritos.”
The tradition Edwards was referring to was, according to a document obtained by HMG-CN, dictated for many years by the favorite of right-wing Cerritos residents – and perennial council candidate – Bruce Barrows.
HMG-CN has obtained a spreadsheet, authored by Barrows, that graphically describes his “vision” of how the Cerritos City Council should observe the mayoral rotation and how they should make their mayoral choices.
And Edwards was slated, as dictated by Barrows’ spreadsheet, to be Mayor pro tem this term and Mayor for the next term.
It is a graphic representation of the power ceded to Barrows and his Republican allies that Cerritos residents know so well.
The email was sent Feb. 16, 2016 to then Mayor Carol Chen, Mayor pro tem George Ray, and councilmembers Edwards, Solanki, and Pulido.
Barrows wrote in the email, “All: I had several requests over the last couple of days asking me to update this list and resend it. I look forward to seeing each of you at the Mayor’s Transition. Bruce.”
The Barrows’ spreadsheet was titled “City Council Rotation.”
On the spreadsheet was a Cerritos council history, going back to 1972, showing the “proper rotation” as laid out by Barrows.
On the bottom of the sheet were two colored boxes. One was titled “correct position” and the other “out of sequence.”
Barrows noted that over the course of the years, eight council members were “out of sequence” for the mayoral choice.
Council members were listed in order (Mayor, Mayor pro tem, Council member) and each year they would move up one spot finally becoming Mayor.
With very few exceptions, the list would not deviate from the “proper sequence,” but Barrows always benefitted the most, serving Mayor pro tem and Mayor numerous times.
Worse, anytime a newly elected member entered the list they would be placed on the bottom to the benefit of Barrows and his allies, especially if they were not in the Republican camp of Cerritos.
At the April transition meeting Pulido blasted the Barrows email saying, “I thought it was a sad day when I received an email from someone who is no longer on the City Council with an attachment that had a prescribed order in which the leaders of Cerritos would be selected, with no transparency, and out of the public eye.”
“It was a very corrupt way of selecting our leaders.”
Pulido finished, “it was sad, but I knew that justice would prevail, people would come here to witness the selection of duly elected members, they would see complete transparency. America is ruled by majority not by the minority, and you are seeing that here tonight.”
Barrows spreadsheet showing his vision of how Cerritos Mayors should rotate. Click on image to view larger document.
Sources tell HMG-CN that Barrows was “extremely angry” that he did not win his coveted City Council seat last April. His anger seemed to have got the best of him when only days after the election he sent what he termed as an innocent email to then Mayor George Ray asking to look into the legality of Hu and Yokoyama’s status of holding office.
The letter drew an angry response from Pulido at the same council meeting.
Said spreadsheet was also circulated during the city of Cerritos study session for the first round for the Commissioners handbook. There was a lot of chit-chat about who was going to be seated when. One of the CCC had resigned and current CCC member wanted to make sure their seated position was in alignment with their political calendar.
It was like musical chairs. It was all hashed out during this meeting. Also remember some of this musical chairs, it’s because of certain debates with the unions, and also with running for future office.
Remember that one of the trustees for the ABC Unified School District, alignment for president ABC Unified School District was not awarded said move-up position.
When will CCC get in to addressing the architecture for Prop H.