District 2 Candidate Rick Cole Raises Over $17,000 In Grassroots Fundraising Effort

Prior to the first state campaign disclosure deadline on June 30, District 2 City Council candidate Rick Cole raised more than $17,000, his campaign announced on Tuesday.

In total, Cole raised $17,178. Cole is a former Pasadena mayor and served on the City’s board of directors before it became the City Council. 

“This will be a vigorous, issue-based grassroots effort,” Cole declared. “People are tired of being flooded with last-minute slick mail funded by big money special interests. That’s why I’ve capped donations at no more than $250 and won’t take money from corporations, unions or individuals that do business with our city.”

Cole set his own limit on campaign contributions in response to the controversial 2021 action by the City Council majority to impose no limits, overriding a State law that capped local campaign donations at $4,900.

Cole officially kicked off his campaign on July 15 with a highly-attended event in McDonald Park. Cole plans to knock on all 6800 doors in District 2. 

“In the month I’ve been talking to voters at the door or on their porch or in their living rooms and kitchens, I’ve heard a desire to return to government ‘by the people,’” Cole stated. “I’ve listened respectfully to their concerns.  I’ve found that my call for Pasadena to do a better job planning for our future has resonated.”

Cole has successfully run for the seat three times in the past. He won the seat the first time in 1983 when he defeated an incumbent by capturing 58% of the vote.  He served as Mayor under the previous Charter provision where the mayor was chosen by the members of the City Council. That changed in 1999 when the City shifted to direct election of the mayor by voters.

Currently the Chief Deputy Controller for the City of Los Angeles, Cole has racked up a distinguished career in local government since leaving elective office in Pasadena in 1995. He served as City Manager in Azusa for six years, Ventura for nine years, Santa Monica for five years and also served as Deputy Mayor for Budget and Innovation in the City of LA. In Pasadena he currently serves on the City’s Planning Commission and is a member of the Bungalow Heaven Neighborhood Association, Civitas, Pasadena Heritage, NAACP, ACT, Making Housing and Community Happen, and Pasadenans Organizing for Progress. Cole also teaches classes part-time as an Adjunct Professor at the Pepperdine Graduate School of Public Policy and Assistant Professor at Occidental College’s Urban and Environmental Policy Institute.