Opinion: Partisan Politics Prolific at Pasadena Pulpit

Candidate Rajpal Kahlon. – Photo by Terry Miller

Whatever Happened to Separation of Church and State?

By Terry Miller

The 5th District supervisorial race is hotly contested and there is big money is backing some of the candidates hoping to step into the seat of self-proclaimed “Mayor” Mike Antonovich, a man who has been District 5 Supervisor, seemingly forever.

There are actually eight candidates running for the office but you would not know it if you attended any recent candidate forums, other than the ones sponsored by the League of Women Voters (these ladies are cool and genuinely non-partisan).

It has come to our attention, that yet again, three of the eight candidates have been conveniently eliminated from attending a forum slated for next Tuesday, May 24, at a local church in Pasadena.

Candidates Darrell Park, Billy Malone, and Rajpal Kahlon apparently have not raised enough cash to warrant gracing the stage at Lake Avenue Church on May 24.

Nor apparently did they qualify for consideration at forums in weeks past, including a couple of televised forums. The reason: “The candidates did not meet our criteria … ” one organizer told us.

Candidate Billy Malone. – Photo by Terry Miller

Lisa Lockwood, one of the organizers of the upcoming May 24 forum, sponsored by LA Voice under the auspices of “Clergy Community Coalition,” told Park that it was exactly for this reason that he and the two other candidates were not invited to participate.

Apparently, if you have not raised a six-figure war chest, you are out of luck when it comes to getting your name out there.

Park, Malone, and Kahlon have seen this before in recent weeks, despite their best efforts to get known in a Republican-driven race.

Los Angeles County District 5 is home to an enormous number of people and voters should be allowed to get to know all the candidates, regardless of their fundraising ability. Especially, in church.

Candidate Darrell Park. – Photo by Terry Miller

It is particularly interesting that All Saints Church in Pasadena (originally one of the sponsors of the event at Lake Avenue Church) pulled their sponsorship in the last few days after they realized (thanks to one of their members, Darrell Park) that not all of the candidates were being included in the Lake Avenue Church event.

The two-faced religious zealots simply do not practice what they preach.

Dogmatic attitudes (in a house of worship) during an election are unacceptable. Bring back separation of church and state!

Grassroots campaigns – the likes of Malone, Park, and Kahlon – cannot and should not be ignored.

We repeatedly called Lockwood and LA Voice’s Zack Hoover for comment on this piece, but none was returned.

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