Newsletter No. 86

Voters, thank you for taking back Torrance.

A quick recap:

On Election Night, supporters were cheering the apparent victories of David Kartsonis over District 1’s Jon Kaji, District 3’s Asam Sheikh over Michael Mauno’s shameful campaign (more about that later) and Betty Lieu over Michelle Brooks and Harry Ward.

But in the initial counts, Sharon Kalani was trailing Mayor George Chen, and Mike Griffiths was losing to Aurelio Mattucci for the open treasurer’s post.

Kalani, however, was not behind for long. On Sunday, June 7, she surpassed Chen and her lead has held.

Griffiths, unfortunately, was another story, and we will discuss that race later.

The Good Government 4 – with Kalani, Sheikh, District 2’s Bridgett Lewis and District 6’s Jeremy Gerson – has become Good Government. Period.

As I said, we have taken back Torrance, and that is my cue to say that I am retiring the newsletter. Thank you to everyone who read these posts, who forwarded newsletters to friends and who shared confidential information and political insights.

The treasurer’s race:

As this newsletter is being filed, the election results haven’t been certified, but Mattucci appears to have won by about 200 votes out of more than 40,000 cast.

His wins have always been narrow. In 2018, he aced out a wonderful sitting Council member, Kurt Weideman, by 200 votes. In his district-only re-election in 2022 he beat me by 16 votes. But as Mattucci has correctly said: A win is a win.

At every candidates forum this year, he has also said that the treasurer is simply a watchdog and that the deputy treasurer “does all the real work.”

Someone suggested to me that the treasurer’s salary should be re-evaluated in light of the reality, as Mattucci himself is pointing out.

The Council sets every salary except for theirs and the mayor’s. Voters decide that.

Here’s the history of the treasurer’s salary.

When Dana Cortez became treasurer, she was making around $140,000. But a serious blunder resulted in the Council losing confidence in her. So, they took various tasks that weren’t mandated for her and returned them to the City’s Finance Department. Since she wasn’t doing the work, they cut her pay in half.

In 2022, she lost to Tim Goodrich. Goodrich assessed the current responsibilities and said that the position’s salary should not be more than the Council and mayor’s salary. The Council agreed with him and lowered it to theirs, around $30,000.

I agree with the reader who suggested that the treasurer should be paid even less. After all, the Council and mayor are doing real work while the treasurer now is just a watchdog.

What to pay? My thought: $100, and here is how I arrived at that number:

District 2’s Bridgett Lewis is a former Civil Service Commission chair. Incoming District 1’s David Kartsonis is stepping down from three years as Planning Commission chair. Commissioners, including chairs, are paid $20 a meeting. Basically $5 an hour. Of course, none of them are doing it for the money.

Lewis and Kartsonis know how much work goes into prepping for four-hour meetings. The treasurer’s watchdog role is not nearly as arduous.

A four-hour weekly meeting with the deputy once a week should be more than adequate. So $80 a month -- $100 when there is a fifth week.

Unlike commissioners, Mattucci will still get his medical insurance benefits, which are worth about $15,000.

How did we get here?:

Before I leave, let’s take a look back. This wasn’t the first time voters had to take back Torrance from a less-than admirable mayor.

In 1970 Ken Miller defeated Mayor Al Eisen. Katy Geissert was Miller’s campaign manager, and she was as put out with Eisen’s antics as I have been with Chen’s. Torrance had a series of great mayors from Miller through Dee Hardison.

But voters got complacent and elected Dan Walker. Frank Scotto, then a Council member and a businessman, was brave to take on Walker. Walker may not have been as vengeful as President Trump, but he had let Scotto know that he would have created problems for Scotto’s towing business if he was re-elected.

Exactly 20 years ago, Scotto ousted Walker.

Then four years ago voters elected Chen. It happened because voters weren’t paying attention. Many of us recognized Chen’s deficiencies, but we didn’t have the votes to put Cliff Numark into the mayor’s office.

So, this is a plea for not becoming complacent.

Fortunately, Kalani has made it clear that she wants to make it easier for residents to be involved – and if not involved, at least aware. I believe that she will deliver on her promise of transparency.

A missing apology:

Of all my grievances against Chen, the deepest-felt one concerns his orchestrating the attempted smear of Sheikh by accusing him of elder abuse when he had done absolutely nothing wrong.

Chen so desperately wanted four votes that he could count on – that would guarantee him his agenda: continuation of Friendship Cities, annexing El Camino Village, breaking away from the L.A. County Health Department.

Consequently, he recruited Mauno to take out Sheikh and to be his yes man.

Chen was not a good judge of talent. In 2024 he pushed two candidates – Andrew Lee for District 2 and Tony Yeh for District 6 – but both failed to get elected.

Mauno had been on the council but couldn’t get re-elected. In fact, his track record was one win and three losses. Chen may have thought that everyone would have forgotten Mauno’s history, and they may have.

But his performance as a candidate was dismal. He plagiarized City staff’s work, claiming their report as his own work. He pushed the false accusation against Sheikh. He was a disaster as a candidate, admitting that he hadn’t been following issues when asked questions during candidates forums.

One of his campaign strategies involved helping Chen, Kaji and Mattucci attempt to destroy Sheikh’s reputation.

Going forward, Torrance has been gracious toward its former elected officials. In her public statements, Kalani has been extremely generous in her comments about Chen.

Clearly the best apologies are the ones that are freely offered, but something should be done to recognize the despicable treatment of Sheikh.

Thoughts for the future:

Kalani has made several campaign promises, and I predict that she will keep all of them.

She is also a collaborative person. She will bring the council together. That’s not to say that they won’t have disagreements, but they will work them out for the betterment of Torrance.

Any wish list for Torrance is undoubtedly a long one.

Here’s one that I haven’t heard people talk about, but I would like to put out there:

Wi-Fi for the public in government buildings – from City Hall to the Armstrong Theatre – and public spaces like the parks.

The City of Carson last fall committed to a $27 million fiber-optic network. All – yes, all – Carson residents, businesses and public facilities will have internet and cable access. All Carson parks will have free Wi-Fi.

Only a few years ago, Carson had a problem with a raft of officials going to prison for their misdeeds. But they’ve turned their city around.

And now Torrance has the leadership it needs to undo four years of problems.

Before I go: 

While there will be no new newsletters, anyone wanting to review a past incident – or simply settle a bar bet – should feel free to go to www.TakeBackTorrance.com. And my phone number – 310-373-8696 – and my email address – jeanadelsman@yahoo.com – should be good for the foreseeable future.

Jean Adelsman