4 vying for Rialto mayor’s seat in November election – San Bernardino Sun

Rialto voters have four mayors to choose from in the November election, including an incumbent who has been on the platform for more than two decades and a former congressman.

The November 5th ballot reads:

• Current Mayor Deborah Robertson, who has been mayor for 12 years and previously served on the Rialto City Council for 10 years.
• Joe Baca, who served on the Rialto City Council for two years after previously serving on the San Bernardino Community College District Board and in the state Assembly, State Senate and House of Representatives.
• Rafael Trujillo, who served on the Rialto City Council for eight years, after eight years with the West Valley Water Board.
• Political newcomer Chè Rose Wright, entrepreneur and vice president of the San Bernardino chapter of the NAACP.

Robertson’s rivals see the election as an opportunity to bring new ideas to the forefront. And they’re happy to bring up Robertson’s ongoing legal battles with the city, even as she asks voters to send her back to office for another term.

Stability vs. change

Robertson was first appointed to the Rialto City Council in 2000. Twelve years later, she was elected mayor, a position she has held three times since then, for four-year terms each time.

As a result, Robertson says it offers something easy to understand: “Stability, economic stability, financial stability,” she said.

The three candidates who want to replace her say they don’t think it’s a good thing.

“We shouldn’t be on the City Council forever,” said Baca, who has held elected office in the Inland Empire almost continuously since 1978. “We should have other people and give them the opportunity to run.”

Trujillo says voters are looking for a new mayor.

“I think people are looking for a change when given the choice between Deborah Robertson and Joe Baca Sr.,” he said.

“They thank me for even taking part in the race and being a kind of alternative to them,” Trujillo said.

According to Wright, stability is not a convincing argument.

“Since she’s been on the podium for 22 years, I would say it’s about time, right?” she said. “Because you have to believe that you have lost perspective after standing on the podium for so long. … If we want to see change, we need to bring more people to the table, we need to get more perspectives.”

Maybe elected officials in Rialto shouldn’t even be allowed to sit at the podium for 22 years, Baca suggested.

“I tried to propose term limits,” he said. “I actually asked (the City Council) for term limits, you know. They all rejected me.”

But voters can impose term limits at any time, Robertson said.

“Term limits mean people won’t vote for you,” she said. “Your term ends.”

Robertson’s claims

Robertson has made international headlines for her decision to take legal action against the city she represents as mayor and whose representative she is seeking to be re-elected.

She has filed three separate lawsuits alleging age and racial discrimination, invasion of privacy and mishandling of her pension fund. In total, she says she is owed millions in compensation.

Robertson said it was completely appropriate for her to take legal action against the city.

“I still have rights. My family has rights,” she said.

Their rivals say they don’t see it that way.

“If you want to sue the city, I don’t think you should be at the podium,” Baca said.

If Robertson wins, Trujillo says it will ultimately be Rialto taxpayers who pay the price.

“It just doesn’t make sense to turn around and go after the taxpayers you’re supposed to be (representing),” he said.

Revitalization of the city center

Mayoral candidates also would like to see a revitalization of Rialto’s aging downtown.

“There is no excuse for why our downtown looks like this,” Wright said. “There is no excuse for why our city hall looks like this.”

Although she agrees that the city needed to replace its five-decade-old police station, Wright said she would have renovated City Hall first before giving the green light to a new police station.

“I would have preferred to have the town hall built first so that the people who want to do business with us can see how serious we are about business, right?” she said.

Baca said the city should create an “Old Town Rialto” district that would attract tourists from outside the city.

“Make it attractive where people would say, ‘Hey, you know what, I want to go to Rialto, you know?’ ” he said. “Why should we have to drive to San Diego, Pasadena or LA to go to an old town? Why can’t we have our own?”

Trujillo wants to see a revitalized downtown that includes more than just restaurants and shops.

“One thing we need to do more about is making sure we create more housing in our downtown area,” he said. “Some of our region’s most thriving downtowns have housing integrated into the downtown core.”

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