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Board of Trustees member William Thomson will run for mayor of Pasadena following Mayor Bill Bogaard’s announced retirement after serving the city for 16 years.

Thomson said that if he were elected as mayor, he would continue to improve the education system as best as he could.

“One of my top priorities has always been education,” Thomson said. “It’s the reason I ran for my board seat. I believe in making education as good as it can be for our students.”

Thomson served as mayor for Pasadena in 1988-89 while it was still a rotating system with the city council members. He and Bogaard both served as councilmen at the time.

“Out of all the candidates for the position,” Thomson said, “I am the only one who has been mayor before and know what it takes. Also, my record shows that I have the experience and trust of the people. Further, I am also the only candidate who has worked closely with education.”

Whoever gets elected mayor will have to deal with the fallout after one city official and two of his friends were arrested and accused of the embezzlement of $6.5 million from city funds.

Thomson said that he would be able to help rebuild trust within the community, as he said he has helped build trust as a board member to PCC.

“Another top priority would have to be hiring a outside auditor to find out what exactly happened with that incident and make sure that measures were put in place so that it could not happen again,” Thomson said.

Board member Anthony Fellow doesn’t live in Pasadena and can’t vote for Thomson, but he said that he would if he could.

“Bill Thomson has all the virtues one wants in a political figure,” Fellow said. “He is honest. He is intelligent. He has tremendous experience. He has tremendous compassion for the underdog and those trying to do the right thing. He is witty and dignified and he loves Pasadena… I have worked with him for the past five years and have come to respect him as a colleague and a friend. I would be proud to have Bill as mayor of my city.”

The election will be held on March 10.

Philip McCormick
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