Immigrants rights group hands City Council formal complaint letter over Kellar’s comm

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Shouting match
Immigrants rights group hands City Council formal complaint letter over Kellar’s comments
By Jonathan Randles
Signal Staff Writer
jrandles@the-signal.com
661-259-1234 x519
UPDATED Feb. 9, 2010 9:09 p.m.
http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/24436/

Members of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition are putting pressure on Santa Clarita Councilman Bob Kellar to apologize for comments he made at an illegal immigration rally in January.

Coalition members handed a formal complaint letter to Santa Clarita's City Council at Tuesday night's meeting, outlining which parts of the city's code of ethics they think Kellar violated when he delivered his speech last month.

Kellar responded the same way he did when others, including Republican Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon, called on him to say sorry.

"You apologize when you've done something wrong," Kellar said minutes before the meeting began.

During Kellar's speech last month, he said the United States should have one flag and one language and if people thought he was racist for believing in America, then "I'm a proud racist. You're darn right I am."

Event organizers posted the speech on YouTube, leading to an uproar that has drawn national attention. The same groups have announced plans to hold another similar rally this month in Santa Clarita. Kellar said he would attend, but does not intend to speak again.

"As a civic leader, he has led this city in the wrong direction," coalition member Robert Gittelson said.

"We have given him as much time as we can to apologize. We feel the city just swept this under the rug and that's unacceptable."

The coalition has also filed complaints with the Human Rights Commission in Los Angeles, the U.S. Department of Justice and California Attorney General's civil rights office, said coalition member Juan Jose Gutierrez.

At the City Council meeting on Jan. 26, the city attorney and council members said Kellar did not violate the code of ethics and a majority of people who spoke at the meeting supported Kellar.

City Attorney Carl Newton on Tuesday said Kellar was clearly expressing his personal views and was not representing Santa Clarita.

Newton said it's unlikely the letter will lead to any repercussions.

"(The complaint) could cause the City Council to consider proceedings," Newton said in an interview before the meeting.

"But I think with the opinion that I and the council gave, I think it's unlikely that the City Council would."

An hour before the meeting began, about 20 coalition members held a press conference in front of City Hall discussing what legal steps they are taking to try and get Kellar reprimanded for his speech.

A group of six men from Santa Clarita who came to support Kellar were at the press conference as well.

The two groups confronted one another shouted back and forth.

A woman driving a white car stopped in front of City Hall and yelled at coalition members: "Get the freak out of my town! ... What's wrong with you people?"

A sheriff's deputy walked over to tell her to keep driving.

While the coalition was holding its conference, Randy Thompson, 47, of Saugus yelled in coalition members' faces.

"I don't want to hear what you have to say because you're here supporting illegal immigration," Thompson barked. "Not one of you lives in Santa Clarita."

Some coalition members shouted back.

During the screaming match, Thompson and others tried to drown them out by loudly chanting Bob Kellar's name.

"It's one group yelling at the other," said Parks Commisioner Duane Harte, who was watching the action. "Both think they're right. Yelling at each other gets us nowhere."

Chris Fall, 47 of Valencia, also watched the noisy argument from a distance.

"It's hard to see people outside of Santa Clarita tearing Bob down and the city apart," Fall said. "(Kellar) should clarify what he meant as a way to apologize for what has been taken out of context."

Along with McKeon's call for an apology, Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman distanced herself from Kellar - who had supported her - and called his comments "unacceptable."

"(Kellar) might think he was galvanizing the troops," Gutierrez said. "But I think, if anything, this experience should teach us all that if we are elected to any level of government, we have to be sensitive that what we say may reach farther than we intend."