Ross Selvidge out, Chen Lau in

Incumbent Board of Trustees member Ross Selvidge lost the Area 1 election to Sandra Chen Lau while three other incumbent Board members were re-elected this past Tuesday.

Chen Lau won by a strong margin of nearly 20 percent.

Selvidge called off his campaign a few months before the election, then resumed it.

“Unfortunately, the other candidate’s campaign has been marked by repeated false accusations and distortions of my record in order to tarnish my reputation and besmirch my character,” Selvidge said on his campaign website. “Rather than have you rely on false information, I want you to hear and understand the facts.”

Selvidge’s recent campaign had a focus on transparency and fiscal responsibility. He narrowly won the 2013 election by 209 votes, according to the Pasadena Star News, with a similar motto of fiscal discipline.

Chen Lau attended Rio Hondo College before transferring to the University of California, Riverside for her Bachelor’s degree. She later obtained a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Chen Lau joined the board of the Pasadena City College Foundation and is a member of the PCC President’s Asian Pacific Islander Advisory Board, according to her campaign website.

She runs her own consulting firm, Trans-Adaptive Philanthropy, but it was only incorporated in January 2018, according to Opencorporates. Chen Lau is also the Associate Vice President of Development for the Japanese American National Museum.

She did not respond to repeated requests for comment from The Courier, both before and after the election. Selvidge did not provide any on-record comments before or after the election.

Trustee Area 3 member Berlinda Brown was re-elected with 82.15 percent of votes to represent Northwest Pasadena. Brown has been in office since 2009. Her opponent was PCC student Roger Eric Martinez.

Trustee Area 5 member Linda Wah was unopposed and re-elected to represent San Marino, South Pasadena and Temple City. Trustee Area 7 member Anthony Fellow was also unopposed and will be serving another term to represent Arcadia, parts of Temple City and El Monte.