Isaac: Back in town
I had heard late Tuesday night that Isaac Abdul Haqq had made an appearance at the Arroyo Seco Foundation's awards gathering at La Casita del Arroyo.
Better known to Pasadenans as Councilman Isaac Richard before his conversion to Islam, Isaac was last in the news a few months ago when University Preparatory Charter School in Oakland, where he was the executive director, got into trouble after reports of alterations on standardized tests after students turned them in.
Because we had always -- well, almost always -- had a cordial relationship through the thick and thin of his fascinatingly tumultuous Pasadena years, he talked to me during that time, when the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune were accusing him of cooking the books.
He told me for our stories that the erasures were made by a consultant who got paid more when the school's API scores were higher.
In any case, the school is closed now.
When our land line rang at home Wednesday morning, I handed the instrument to Phoebe, since that number is never for me. So I didn't have the pleasure of hearing Isaac say what he has always said when I've picked up over the past almost two decades: "WILSON!"
He invited me out to lunch -- Mi Piace, naturally, his longtime favorite haunt. He picked a place at the back of the room, he said, so I wouldn't get caught in the crossfire if there were a drive-by. It's been so long since he was out in public here that I can't imagine what Old Pas property owner Jim Plotkin, Fire Department PIO Lisa Derderian and any others who recognized him thought -- except you know that they were reporting the sighting back at their offices with glee. Isaac -- brilliant, iconoclastic, and formerly way, way over the top -- excites that kind of talk.
Except that now he has taken on a calm as profound as a ship stuck in the doldrums on the Sargasso Sea. As you can see in the picture above, in his chalk-stripe bespoke suit and fedora, he's never looked better. He was down south here taking his high-school aged older son to a baseball camp at UCLA. He's running a business that helps college students stay in school and an employment agency in Los Angeles, so that he gets down to these parts more often than he has since his years on the council
No more drinking, no more drugs -- thanks to Islam, he says. He reads the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and has some entrepreneurial musings about the future of the Internet and journalism's place in it. He started out as a journo at PCC before heading to Pitzer and a Columbia business degree -- "Black Panther with an MBA" was his motto.
Tumultuous for the city and its staff, those were the best of times for the newspaper --larger than life makes for good copy. In the aftermath of all that, it's a pleasure to see Isaac as a survivor.
Comments
My favorite memory if him was reading "War and Peace" out loud at a city council meeting.
I am glad to see that he is doing well. A brilliant mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Best of luck to him.
Posted by: Angel Bec | December 17, 2008 4:49 PM
Not everybody remembers Isaac as a wacky and wonderful part of Pasadena's history. His role and actions were central to painful, destructive and bitter years in this city, in my opinion. Have a look at your archives, lest you forget all the things he did. May he have great success and be a survivor .... elsewhere.
Posted by: anonymous | December 17, 2008 7:25 PM
It's hard to believe that Trey is in high school! Isaac used to bring him by my office from time to time when he just a little boy.
Yes, we look back on the Isaac years with a little sense of "those were the days" and a little sense of horror.
Posted by: Ann Erdman | December 18, 2008 10:41 AM
Isaac always seems to resurface when you least expect him to. As my councilmember he always seemed to have his heart in the right place but just had a problem with his delivery. I guess that in hindsight we need him now more than ever as our councilmember over what we have. Our district deserves better. Our councilwoman has not been to a meeting in 3 months. We made a big mistake. She is overwhelmed, underachieving and disinterested in our needs. Please don't beg her to stay as you did in a column 5-6 months ago. We deserve better and need a strong leader for our district.
Posted by: Floyd | December 18, 2008 1:27 PM
I don't know if Isaac Haqq would be welcome back into the fray but I do concur with your take on Robinson and Larry's over the top plea to Robinson to not accept a job in DC. If she can improve her lot in life then don't put a guilt trip on her. If DC is calling in this historic time of politics you take what is given with honor and gratitide. Larry, you didn't even endorse her in the 2 opportunies available so why the begging? Let her do what is good for her and her future. Maybe that's the problem with her always looking distant, sleepy and bored, she needs a bigger challenge. That's OK, just don't let your district suffer in the process. If your heart isn't there your head won't be there either.
Posted by: concerned on forest | December 18, 2008 4:49 PM
Larry, who paid for breakfast? The last time Isaac invited me for breakfast at Mi Piace, he announced he had no money at the end of the meal and I paid. Since he invited you, how did that work? Same old Isaac or a new improved Haqq?
Posted by: a former sucker | December 19, 2008 3:20 PM
ike graciously picked up the tab. the last time we had lunch there -- many years ago -- i paid the bill. so we're even.
Posted by: larry | December 19, 2008 4:50 PM
Isaac's Pasadena legacy is one consumed with anger and hostility. His contributions to the city council meetings were unproductive and mean spirited. I am glad he changed his name.
Posted by: Russ | December 20, 2008 2:12 PM
Isaac's legacy is in fact one of anger and intimidation. Jacque's legacy will be one of unprecedented community disappointment over us putting her into office. Pasadena politics is hard and she just doesn't have it. Friends have described her as the Sam Bowie or Michael Olowakandi of Pasadena politics. We had the opportunity to draft better but blew it. Not a day goes by without those two NBA teams thinking about what could have been. That's how many of us feel in District 1.
Posted by: Floyd | December 20, 2008 2:37 PM
There have been a few times where I've spoken to this man. Always sure to make promises that no matter what, the children at U Prep high school in Oakland would make it to college even if he had to change thier grades. A home for most of the children who went there he had no respect for the teachers who did their best. He'd make sure they weren't around for long.Never caring if changing the teachers so often had any effect on the students. I can remember how he would scream at teachers, humiliating them in front of anyone around including parents. He's not well and how he's still walking around able to hurt more people pretending to be a professional of any kind is just plain wrong. His actions hurt children.......
Posted by: Liz | December 20, 2008 10:12 PM
I wondered when he would resurface. All I can do is shake my head, from left to right... Dont be fooled again, he is good at what he does. My memories, from UPREP: I was there battling him for the children, the teachers, for the parents. He hired me right after he opened UPREP. And I was doing very good. I got everything in proper order, and he knows it. Yeap, he was trying to work in the shadows then, but I wouldnt let him. He tried to fire me three times. But I wouldnt let him.
Dont you wish you would have left me to run the school Issac? Its was going good with me, wasnt it?
SEE, if you would have left me alone, to run the school as I saw fit; UPREP would be a true shining star... And you know that.
Anyway, keep your eye on him.
He didnt just call you, its all apart of his plan.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 6, 2009 4:44 PM
I wondered when he would resurface. All I can do is shake my head, from left to right... Dont be fooled again, he is good at what he does. My memories, from UPREP: I was there battling him for the children, the teachers, for the parents. He hired me right after he opened UPREP. And I was doing very good. I got everything in proper order, and he knows it. Yeap, he was trying to work in the shadows then, but I wouldnt let him. He tried to fire me three times. But I wouldnt let him.
Dont you wish you would have left me to run the school Issac? Its was going good with me, wasnt it?
SEE, if you would have left me alone, to run the school as I saw fit; UPREP would be a true shining star... And you know that.
Anyway, keep your eye on him.
He didnt just call you, its all apart of his plan.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 6, 2009 4:45 PM
I wondered when he would resurface. All I can do is shake my head, from left to right... Dont be fooled again, he is good at what he does. My memories, from UPREP: I was there battling him for the children, the teachers, for the parents. He hired me right after he opened UPREP. And I was doing very good. I got everything in proper order, and he knows it. Yeap, he was trying to work in the shadows then, but I wouldnt let him. He tried to fire me three times. But I wouldnt let him.
Dont you wish you would have left me to run the school Issac? Its was going good with me, wasnt it?
SEE, if you would have left me alone, to run the school as I saw fit; UPREP would be a true shining star... And you know that.
Anyway, keep your eye on him.
He didnt just call you, its all apart of his plan.
Posted by: Nimat | May 6, 2009 4:46 PM