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Last night at an unexpectedly bizarre city council meeting, a simple resolution was to be put forth to denounce the racist actions taken against Fred Ameri, former City Council candidate in District 7. Expected to sail through without a much problem, instead, Mayor Diane Dixon violated the state law in order to skip out on the condemning of racism or seeking justice for those who violate campaign finance laws. I wish I were making this up.
A quick backstory: Ameri has been known in town by the name “Fred” for many years– it’s the only name I’ve ever known him by– and just as I ran as “Mike” (my nickname, instead of Michael), he ran as “Fred” (his nickname, instead of Farouk).
Seeing this, Councilman Scott Peotter’s brother, Bruce Peotter (the same person who put the hit piece out on me) filed a lawsuit saying that Ameri’s Anglicized name of “Fred” was “deceptive”, and later signs in Farsi were plastered over the top of Ameri’s roadsigns. Ameri struggled to address what he and many others say efforts that were clearly trying to make him out to be an Arab Muslim terrorist outsider– none of which is true, as he’s neither Arab, Muslim, a terrorist, nor an outsider. Indeed, Ameri has lived in Orange County for 55 years after fleeing Iran due to political turmoil happening when he was a child.
I had the pleasure of having lunch with Ameri yesterday and we discussed a lot of the things which happened in the race, reflecting and learning from each other. One thing we agreed on: Negative campaigning is disgusting, but racism is absolutely unacceptable.
Last night, Keith Curry showed that he agreed with that racism is fundamentally wrong, and asked to have a simple referendum condemning racism placed on the agenda, but– shockingly even to me– Diane Dixon refused to even allow him to discuss it before asking for a vote. Furthermore, as Curry stated, “This is the first time in my nearly 11 years on the city council on any agenda item that we saw a ruling by the mayor that public comments would not be heard.”
Yes: Dixon not only blocked a simple item condemning racism, and not only did she refuse to discuss it– she even refused to allow the public to comment on it. I am unaware of a single other time in Newport Beach’s history where this has ever occurred. According to the Council Policy A6, the hearing is not explicitly required within the document, but it is within the Brown Act, which the document references. Blocking public comment has never, ever happened previously, and after only reading the first two paragraphs of the Brown Act, is also clear a violation of state law.
Shockingly, Curry was the only person who wished to have this move forward to a future meeting. I would have expected Selich and Petros to have joined him, but as people who are beholden to Big Money in the area, their voices were muted in one of the most disturbing displays that has ever been shown at council before– ever.
It is important to note that both of Ameri’s opponents in District 7 denounced the signs and the racism as despicable and reprehensible, and while this resolution is not technically binding, it is an important step to take for a particularly dirty election cycle here in Newport, and especially as the media increasingly attempting to introduce racism into the national political arena.
Watch the absurd refusal to condemn racism unfold, here: http://newportbeach.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=44&clip_id=2413&meta_id=190072
Read the simple resolution proposed, here: http://savenewport.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/A-Resolution-of-the-City-Council-of-Newport-Beach.docx
Do you think it is acceptable for Dixon to violate State Law to defend racism in Newport Beach? I don’t, and I urge you to write city council to express your concerns. They can be reached at citycouncil@newportbeachca.gov
