Pasadena mayor to Hispanic councilman: "Speak up, boy"

[Sunlei]

Source: Houston Chronicle

PASADENA - Pasadena Mayor Johnny Isbell, who is white, addressed Councilman Cody Ray Wheeler, who is Hispanic, as "boy" at a public council meeting Monday morning.

The exchange, during debate over a tax collection contract, crystallized an election season in which representatives of the predominantly Hispanic north side, who feel long neglected by city government, are pushing for change. Isbell's comment was especially jaw-dropping in the context of a federal voting rights lawsuit in which one judge has found that the mayor-backed change to voting districts in 2015 discriminated against Hispanics.

Isbell was rushing to take a vote on the contract when Wheeler interjected: "I haven't had an opportunity to speak yet." "Well, you better speak up, boy," Isbell replied.

It was no mere slip of the tongue to Pat Gonzales, who said she and other Hispanics had been insulted by the mayor on numerous occasions. She harkened back to a 2014 council meeting when she said Isbell forced a north-side constituent to deliver a grievance about flooding in broken English rather than let her translate for him. Councilman Ornaldo Ybarra recalled the episode, too. The "boy" comment "was him being racist, being bold and being cocky," Gonzales said. "And he doesn't care." She is among the plaintiffs in the voting rights lawsuit.




Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Pasadena-mayor-to-Hispanic-councilman-Speak-up-11031609.php

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"the mayor-backed change to voting districts in 2015 discriminated against Hispanics"

[47of74]

1. Fornicate you Mayor.

[jaysunb]

2. Pasadena TEXAS ! Not California. !!!!!! n/t

[yuiyoshida]

10. I was gonna say that didn't sound like California but

Southern California has their Right wingers too. I have been to Pasadena and its not that far on the 5 to Orange County where many right wingers live.

[jaysunb]

12. Orange County is trending blue these days...

and most of the local wingers are to the east in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

And, this past week the City council here in Pasadena voted to become a sanctuary city.

[yuiyoshida]

15. Great news Jaysunb!

[PasadenaTrudy]

14. We are quite a distance from the OC..

and it's the IE that's more republican these days.

[yuiyoshida]

16. Trudy the really good news is the Super Majority

of Democrats in the State Government in Sacramento. I am hoping, despite TRUMP, that California can lead then nation back to some kind of sanity.. but yeah we gotta get rid of the Republicans in Washington that are about to destroy this nation with their stupid vision of the future...to Rob this nation and get away with it, without a get away car.

[PasadenaTrudy]

13. I am relieved to see it's not CA!

I was worried there for a second, lol!

[yuiyoshida]

17. agreed!!

[IronLionZion]

3. back when America was great

people knew their place and weren't so uppity. Things were much lighter then.

I actually had an elderly liberal man tell me how America used to be great and he was dead serious. I promptly reminded him of how things were less great for some people and he liberally said he doesn't want to argue with me.

[Baconator]

4. Eh....

There looks to be a generation's worth of age difference between them. At least...

I saw it more as an attempt to highlight that (old statesman vs young whippersnapper) as opposed to a racial thing.

YMMV...

It certainly wasn't meant to be friendly though.

[Tanuki]

8. Isbell has a history of racist dogwhistling in his interactions

with Wheeler and other minority politicians.
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/columnists/greater-houston/article/With-changes-looming-Pasadena-mayor-launched-9171490.php

...."As an example, Wheeler cited a 2008 mailer featuring images of dark-colored birds atop photos of five elected officials - four black, one Hispanic - encircling a photo of a white candidate for a state representative seat. The headline: "Birds of a feather stick together."

Wheeler compared that mailer to one used by his own political opponents in 2015, featuring images of him and President Barack Obama. It was one of several mailers targeting Wheeler that were distributed by a political action committee funded by longtime Pasadena Mayor Johnny Isbell. "I know Isbell and his camp," Wheeler testified in the June 22 deposition. "I think they dog whistle sometimes … "

Of course, the mailer might simply have sought to link Wheeler to a Democratic president unpopular with conservative voters. Whatever its motive, this piece of campaign literature illustrates the bare-knuckles political tactics Isbell and his allies employed as their city was becoming a battleground over Latino voting rights.

Five Hispanic residents of Pasadena are suing the city, contending that the revised City Council district arrangement, initiated by Isbell, dilutes Latino voting strength through the addition of two citywide positions more favorable to Anglo candidates. The case has drawn national attention amid battles over redistricting, voter identification requirements and other measures seen as threats to minority voting rights.

Depositions and other documents filed in the case detail the extraordinary efforts made by the PAC, Citizens to Keep Pasadena Strong, to prevent Wheeler's election to the council in 2013 and 2015. The committee was wholly funded by a $35,000 donation from Isbell's campaign account, according to campaign finance filings reported by the Pasadena Citizen.

In his May 27 deposition in the case, Isbell acknowledged that he helped to direct the PAC's efforts against Wheeler, reviewing and approving materials such as mailers. (Isbell declined to comment for this column, citing the ongoing lawsuit.)
..........
(More at link)

[dalton99a]

9. No, the asshole has a lengthy racist history.

[Cha]

5. Arrogant asshole.

[iluvtennis]

6. Racist

[Nitram]

7. Despicable bigots.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

11. Saw this on the news last night.

I don't know of him, but he sounds like an asshole.