[Eagle1]

scvtalk.com has the following article regarding Kellar.
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1-24-2010 1PM
The Signal has a sweeping, 1300+ word piece on Racistgate in which they talk to everyone from Bob Kellar to Frank Ferry to local liberals to a CSUN professor. Amazingly, Roger Gitlin, the guy who helped organize the rally at which Kellar uttered the “I”m a proud racist” phrase, appeared as a moderate in the article and said Kellar “got a little ahead of himself with his words.”

Kellar again refuses to back off his words or apologize. Indeed, he said elected officials who don’t talk about illegal immigration ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Interestingly, the Signal reports that Kellar may have violated the City’s Code of Ethics by not explicitly stating that his views on immigration were his own and not those of the City. The relevant code says, “”when presenting their individual opinions and positions, (City Council members and other city officials) shall explicitly state they do not represent their body or the city of Santa Clarita, nor will they allow the inference that they do.”

But City Attorney Carl Newton, Frank Ferry and other unidentified members of the Council say they don’t think Kellar violated the Code of Ethics. “He did not say he was speaking on behalf of the council or speaking in an official capacity, so I don’t think he has violated any policy,” Newton told The Signal. Ha! Newton must think we are stupid, the code requires that officials affirmatively state that they are not speaking on behalf of the Council, the inverse is simply not enough; that’s obvious even from a lay reading of the code.

All these new articles (especially the KHTS one) and many of the commenters are emphasizing how important the context of Kellar’s quote was. I agree. Context is king. That’s why before you make your judgment, you ought to (in addition to reading all of his speech) consider that Kellar, our City Councliman, was at an event where a pastor gave a stirring, nativist invocation in which he said that that the US was being overrun by “those who are evil,” and that the “thing going on in our nation today” (presumably Democrats and/or illegals) were “sent straight from hell.” That was the true context for the whole rally, that was the tone right off the bat: religiously-inspired illegal immigrant bashing.

Any normal elected person -cognizant that he represented a diverse Southern California community in 2010- would have left at that point, but not Kellar. All indications are that he worked himself into a frenzy, staying for several speeches before hissing that he was a proud racist. He topped even the pastor with his rhetoric and the crowd ate it up.

I’ll say this for Kellar. Whether he is protesting against marriage equality for gays or besting even the most reactionary rhetoric at a nativist gathering, he’s clear and consistent. He had me fooled for a long time, so if anything good can be said to come from last week’s rally, it’s that I and the rest of the SCV now know the true Bob Kellar. And he’s proud of it, he stands by everything he said. And I’ll be happy to see him leave the Council in 2012, despite whatever good service he’s given to our community.


Posted in Opinion | 1 Response »
Kellar Doubles Down on “Proud Racist” Comment
Written by Jeff on January 23rd, 2010

Bob Kellar tells the Daily News in a Saturday story that he stands by his “I’m a proud racist” comment and he doesn’t really understand what all the fuss is about. Afterall, his “Proud Racist” comment “doesn’t mean I’m going to saddle up the horses at midnight,” he told the paper.

Susan Abram of the Daily News spoke to several people about Kellar’s comments, including Carole Lutness, a local activist and former Signal columnist, who told Abram that Kellar “has done some good stuff in this Valley, but his attitude is whites-only and the rest need not apply.”

Abram then spoke with people about the immigration issue and ended the article speaking to an uncomfortable Marsha McLean, who said this whole unpleasantness was a “very difficult situation” and said that Kellar doesn’t speak for the Council.

When people started emailing me about this Kellar story this morning, I thought for sure he’d take the opportunity to back away from his comments, to smooth things over, to make himself appear more reasonable and level-headed like an elected official should. I didn’t expect an apology, but maybe a “I regret the poor choice of words,” or an “I regret that I put it that way, what I meant to say was….”

Instead he doubled down on his own phrase, invoked Ku Klux Klan imagery (hey, at least our Councilman isn’t as bad as those guys, right?), and flipped the bird to those of us who are compassionate about immigration issues. He repeated what he said last Saturday to a wider audience. And the commenters on the YouTube video and the Daily News site are eating it up, feeling smug and proud that a local elected person is justifying their xenophobia.

Since he didn’t back off his incendiary comments, neither will I. Kellar has cracked his nut. He’s no longer suitable to serve as a City Councilman in Santa Clarita. He is an embarassment to our community and he ought to resign immediately.

Note: The Daily News story isn’t online right now.


Posted in Opinion | 57 Responses »
Signal to cover Kellar remarks at anti immigrant rally again
Written by Jeff on January 22nd, 2010

They just teased it in their new Qwik-E email blast for Sunday publication:

Kellar’s anti-illegal immigration remarks stir controversy
Santa Clarita City Councilman Bob Kellar’s comments last week at an anti-illegal immigration and anti-amnesty rally in front of the Santa Clarita Civic Center have drawn praise from some, while other local residents have called the elected official an embarrassment to the city.

Good on The Signal for holding our elected officials accountable for what they say. I look forward to a solid, fair, and mature report. I also regret digging at The Signal for failing to report the remarks before. Better a solid, well-written report than a hasty one. My bad.


Posted in Opinion, Politics | 11 Responses »