If we woke up tomorrow to the news that a “Pit Bull” killed a person in Pasadena would that then immediately make Councilman Steve Madison a prophet?

Would it justify the hundreds of thousands of days that have literally went by without a Pasadena death being linked to a dog or a dog bite (actual proof and reality) then being wiped from the history books?

Would this singular incident then justify all of the rhetoric used by Mr. Madison over the span of the last 2 years (much of which has entered the realm of referring to them as “killing machines, extremely dangerous, inherently dangerous, rocket launchers, fully automatic machine guns and time bombs”) in order to sweepingly indict millions of dogs simply by the way that they look?

Would Steve Madison bother to check the circumstances surrounding the incident, instead of using the “breed” of the offending dog as his talking point and focus?

Would this happening immediately serve to render all of my many points made to counter his bigotry null and void?

Would this incident mean that every other Pit Bull in Pasadena should be viewed as guilty of the same thing?

The answers are 6 very obvious NO’s. But if Councilman Steve Madison were taking this same quiz he would probably offer up a YES for every question instead.

We’ve already saw glimmers of this type of arrogant, grandstanding behavior when Madison gleefully flaunted and exploited the police shooting of 3 loose dogs (identified by them as being Pit Bulls) days after the January City Council meeting. The dogs were alleged to have bitten a man who was walking his bicycle in the wee hours of the morning. Conveniently, Madison payed no attention to the fact that the dogs were out and running loose, amongst other questionable things. Prior to this we’d heard him say on numerous occasions that “it’s only a matter of time” before (insert here) happens in Pasadena. This is the behavior of a fearmonger hellbent on exploiting the sensationalism linked with this topic, and at the expense of flat out ignoring the depth of the issue…

What’s so surprising to me is that Councilman Madison almost relishes an attack, so that he can then proclaim himself “right” in the press and have a specific body to be able to stand upon while continuing to push for his desired agenda. This is shameful behavior from any elected official and his blatant disengagement from reality (and ignoring of public safety) should be far more concerning to residents than any dog.

Please consider coming out to the next Pasadena City Council meeting where this issue will be on the agenda, happening on July 14th.