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Pam Torliatt
By PHILIP RILEY
PETALUMA ARGUS-COURIER
Pam Torliatt oversaw her last council meeting as mayor last week, and when she steps down tonight she will leave a legacy that many are still struggling to define — and may still be evolving.
“Whether you agreed with Pam Torliatt or didn’t, you know that she worked very hard,” said Brian Sobel, a Petaluma political analyst. “Somebody who watched her local career would be impressed by her boosterism.”
After her loss to David Rabbit in the 2nd District Supervisor election, Torliatt, 43, will be out of office for the first time in 14 years. But she does not plan to stay in the shadows for long. Soon after the election, she told supporters that “this is the middle of the road, not the end,” in her political career.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said in a recent interview.
Torliatt’s political beliefs fall on the progressive side, favoring oversight of growth and development that hold builders fully accountable. These strong beliefs fostered a reliable base of support among progressive voters and others, leading to 18 years of service in local government — as mayor since 2006, on the council since 1996, and as a planning commissioner before that.
Her strongly held beliefs also led to opposition from those who disagreed with her. Critics accused her of failing to build consensus and have complained in the past of decisions that they felt were being forced by a four-member majority that voted in lock-step. They point to the re-alignment of the Planning Commission, when the majority of Council members were accused of “cronyism” after they voted to appoint like-minded new planning commissioners. They also highlight the strong opposition to her supervisor bid from a majority of city employees, who said she did not do enough to ensure revenue for the city.
However, those decisions “go hand in hand with her view of how you manage growth,” said Sobel. “She took a deliberative approach to land use. She is not a proponent of growth for growth’s sake.”
Torliatt said that despite political divisions that have garnered plenty of attention, her biggest accomplishments have been more utilitarian. She counted her proudest accomplishments as finding funding for the East Washington Street interchange, opening the Ellis Creek sewer plant, and adopting the city’s new economic development plan.
“I hope my legacy is one that inspired youth and community members to get involved and know that their government cares about them,” Torliatt said in an e-mail interview, adding that much of her work was done behind the scenes, networking and promoting the city throughout the region.
Sobel said that Torliatt is known and recognized for her “competence” and “enthusiasm,” but for may politicians, “the things that you are really proud of may not be what people see you as.”
Sobel said that Torliatt’s time on the council will likely be remembered for land-use stances and political beliefs.
Torliatt said that the biggest disappointments of her term were the Dutra asphalt plant going forward — whose approval she said is on “extremely shaky (legal) ground” — and the local media.
“Unfortunately, the Argus-Courier has not been willing to work together to create a positive atmosphere and economic development,” she said. “The constant criticism, unnecessary, untrue and distorted cartoons hurt the community. Of all times, this was the time to focus on the positives.”
Torliatt defended the council’s actions in her term, saying early cuts prevented further fiscal disaster. She said that the media “unfairly characterized that it’s pro-business or anti-business.” A more important distinction is “pro-business versus pro-developer,” she said, and reaffirmed her belief that a developer must prove how they can benefit the community.
“It’s not only in Petaluma that we are facing controversy,” she said, pointing out that economic difficulties “brought a lot of emotion” to politics.
Torliatt also took issue with The Press Democrat’s coverage of the sanctuary issue in her bid for Supervisor, saying “tactics and misrepresentations” by reporters and editorial writers distorted the issue. She declined to elaborate in a recent interview.
While her supporters have said that the coverage contributed to her loss, others say there are other factors.
“Any time a politician blames the media … people count that as a demerit,” said Sobel, who added that this may be true whether the blame is deserved or not.
But Sobel thinks that there are other reasons for her defeat.
“I don’t think she was able to expand her base beyond Petaluma,” said Sobel, who added that her campaign was cautious toward reaching out to undecided voters and failed to pick up voters who went with Mike Healy or John King in the primary.
Torliatt declined to comment on the recent election.
Torliatt, who also ran an unsuccessful bid for State Assembly against Jared Huffman in the 2006 Democratic primary, has not said where she expects her political career to go, but said she is considering applying for the council seat that David Glass will vacate when he becomes mayor.
Sobel said that if she runs for higher office, which is expected “based partly on how young she was when she got into politics,” she will have to focus on “redefining herself.”
“She will have to focus on two, three, four issues and own them so that people know who she is,” said Sobel, who added that Torliatt “has a reputation for being cautious” of concern for being open to everyone.
“Any time that you have lost a couple of elections, you need to drop back a few yards and analyze,” said Sobel.
For now, Torliatt said she hopes to enjoy the holidays before making a decision on her future. But she emphasized that she will continue her public service in some vein.
“If chosen or elected, I would be pleased to continue to serve our community,” she said.
CLICK HERE to read this story on Petaluma360.com, the Argus-Courier’s website.
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There are actually two new sites that provide an alternative the PD/Argus Courier:
Petaluma Patch at http://petaluma.patch.com/ — this site covers news, events, etc.
Petaluma Progressive at http://www.petalumaprogressive.org/ – this site is local news from a progressive point of view.
@Eric
“Personal venom”?
“poison”?
“extremists”?
My friend,political discourse is often rough stuff,and it requires thicker skin than you are demonstrating.Men don’t whine like that.You even go so far as to chide Ted’s performance as moderator(weak).It’s not that we “right-wingers” have a higher tolerance for “poison”(truth),we’re simply made of tougher stuff.
There,how’s that for”completely inappropriate”?
Point #2
Pam Torliatt is dead-on in her criticism of the Argus and the PD. I read both, and the coverage of local politics is a scandal. They don’t even try to hide the thumb on the scale anymore. They are open boosters for the Chamber and the Alliance backed candidates. We need an alternative local news site that will at least attempt to be fair.
Ted, you have to do a better job of moderating this site. Some of the commenters here are injecting a level of highly personal venom that is completely inappropriate. I’ve seen the pattern occur on other sites.
Progressives get driven out of sites that get infected with this kind of poison. Conservatives have been conditioned by AM talk radio to have a much higher tolerance for it. End result: the site gets dominated by right-wing extremists, and it no longer represents the spectrum of opinion in the community.
Do the public a favor and drop out of it please…seriously, Petaluma is a mess because of you and your ilk. Don’t blame the economy..the point of being a leader is the weather the storm and not turn the ship over…if you are like everyone else you are nothing..your ideas are old and tired and we are tired of hearing it from you…so give it a rest and go find yourself a unicorn.
Alic: Right on. While she was only paid $10 a meeting, she also got a medical plan for negligible, was elgible for the retirement plan, and all those regional committees she served on and bragged about? they paid her too plus expenses. Torliatt may love Petaluma, but how much time has she spent campaigning to get out of Petaluma? At least 2 races so far….
Torliatt did not ‘give’ her life to public service – she was paid. Perhaps another job, or she could resume table hopping as a real estate broker.
Again, how many folks on here have served in public office? Certainly from the criticism and negativity the answer is none. Are you aware of how much time and effort a council member and especially a mayor devotes to their city? Apparently not. Are you willing to work long hours for little to no monetary compensation? Highly doubtful. Do you have the thick skin it takes to endure the intense public scrutiny? Surely the answer is no. It’s not an easy job.
Thank you Pam Torliatt for your 18 years of service, and again, I look forward to your return.
- 7,000
It used to bother me how much time and space is spent on this site regarding the Torliatt/sanctuary/sour grapes stuff,But it’s getting too hilarious to not enjoy.Pam’s a sham,that’s why her political career is in the torliatt.The voters are paying attention,and her continued sniveling is doing her harm-you go Pam!
Seems to me Pam supporters criticized Kerns 12 years for being do nothing or do wrong as an elected official. Listen up Pam, you have to earn your respect for time served; Petalumans are tired of your holier-than- thou approach to micro managing our lives.
Wow, the lack of respect here is deplorable. How many of you folks have given 18 years of your life to public service? How about 1 year? Your views are definitely not the views of 17,000 other voters. Sure Pam did not win, but it was by no means a landslide. I look forward to her return, whether at council or higher office.
@mike bonham:
And most of us know who pays to control the ink.
I’ve never seen a politician more adverse to criticism than Torliatt. She wants a newspaper to “work together” with the city for economic development?! Did she flunk civics class? Ever read the first amendment?
Whatever consultant is advising her to use this “woe is me, why don’t you like me?” approach to the media needs to give his money back. No wonder they call her the Petaluma Princess.
And I love her remark about “unnecessary and untrue” cartoons. Have you ever seen a “true” cartoon? Isn’t than an oxymoron?
It’s clear she expects to be a politician who is unquestioned and uncriticized and gets flustered when she is, taking her off message and causing her to blame the media. She needs a lot of consultant help if she’s going to break out of Petaluma; no wonder her attack dog Glass is pushing for a special election so she can run for the last city council seat – the city level is, like the old expression says, the highest level of incompetence she can rise to.
Had she not made such a big deal about the PRESS’s reportage about her Sanctuary stance I might have some respect for her despite her views.
She and the liberals who continue to whine about it only show how their “liberalism” is only skin deep.
A free press is always important!!!
I’m thinking that the Press Democrat is trolling to start another illegal immigration thread. Nothing ups the post count on Watch Sonoma County like that topic.
All Torlatt has to do is spend as much time on a treadmill as she does on her nails and get a decent hair style and she’s electable again.
As long as she shuts up about sanctuary cities, everyone will just forget about it and see just the veneer again.
I’ld bet the farm that she runs for AD 6 (Huffman’s Assembly seat). She narrowly lost to him 4 years ago, and he’ll be termed out in 2012.
Do you agree? Give a thumbs up if you agree with the prediction, whether or not you would support her candidacy.
Goodbye Pam. Let’s see,; her biggest accomplishments are an overpass that hasn’t been built, a sewer plant, and an economic development plan that was skewed by special interest groups, was late, and hasnt been implemented. All that after 18 years, wow, what a lofty list.
And of course, it is all the newspaper’s fault. Meanwhile, the business climate in Petaluma is horrible. The city finances are a shamble. The streets a mess, the streetlights out, and city services are going to be cut again this year. This is not her fault either, she blames it all on the economy. Guess it had nothing to do with the city council.
Could it be that the voters in the County are smarter than those in Petaluma?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Judging by the number of thumbs down the two previous comments received, her supporters are out in force today.
Thanks for your many years of fine service, Pam. We look forward to many more!
Torliatt is a politican from the big spending past. She publicly took on a newspaper which is always a bad idea for a politican. You can’t win, they control the ink.
She was on the wrong side in the sanctuary issue and continues to drag that issue out.
Her growth ideas have done nothing but hurt Petaluma. In the end she is not right on most issues in this economic and in her social views. That is why she lost. Petaluma needs adults on the council and the County needs leaders with a balanced view of how to solve the budget deficit and economic problems facing the citizens of Sonoma County.
Pam, take your loss as a hint. We don’t want you to serve us anymore.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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