Judge Questions Fredericks’ Recall Challenge, Continues Conference to Dec. 1

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge questioned the basis of Pasadena Unified School District Trustee Tina Fredericks’ lawsuit challenging a recall effort Tuesday and continued a trial-setting conference to Dec. 1, according to a statement provided to Pasadena Now.

Judge Tiana J. Murillo questioned whether Fredericks’ requested relief remained relevant because county election officials had already approved the recall petition for circulation, according to the statement.

Murillo said the “gist” of Fredericks’ petition was to prevent the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk from approving the recall petition and allowing its circulation, the statement said.

According to that account, Murillo indicated the petition lacked a valid basis for relief and raised constitutional issues. Because Fredericks had already amended her petition once, additional amendments would require court permission.

“It is not my job to shepherd you through” the correct legal procedures, Murillo said, according to the statement.

The judge continued the conference after county attorneys did not appear because they had not received notice, the statement said. Fredericks, who represents herself, acknowledged misunderstanding her responsibility to notify them.

The next conference is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Dec. 1 in Department 834 at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. Murillo ordered Fredericks to notify the county attorney on file, according to the statement.

It was the second continuance attributed to a failure to provide notice. A September conference had previously been moved to Tuesday.

Fredericks filed her petition July 2 seeking to prevent county election officials from approving the recall petition for circulation. She later amended it to remove 124 recall signers named as “Doe” defendants, according to the statement.

The statement did not include a response from Fredericks, the court record or the complete district attorney’s letter.

The recall campaigns began after records revealed emails and text messages between Fredericks and fellow trustees Scott Harden, Kim Kenne and Yarma Velázquez.

Recall organizers say the exchanges show the four deliberated privately about a school closure resolution and had a premeditated plan to close schools while publicly saying otherwise, which they say violates the state’s open meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, which bans serial communications among board members.

Proponents also say the four voted to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a consultant billed as independent, and that Fredericks, Harden and Velázquez had pre-selected the firm. The board later rejected the consultant’s findings, he said.