YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS!! Councilmember Williams demonstrated her extraordinary belief that she is a member of the power elite because she is a councilmember of Oakley during the last council meeting. Yes, the same Councilmember Anissa Williams, disguised as the Mayor of Oakley, flew to China courtesy of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), which funded the excursion.
Williams went to China on a sneaky basis. Councilmember Williams did not inform the residents of Oakley that she was going to China as an envoy for Oakley. Unfortunately, the City Manager, Joshua McMurray, and three other council members (Meadows, Shaw, and Henderson) hid the trip from the people of Oakley.
So, last Tuesday night (May 13), Williams observed that I nominated Edgar Flores as my alternate in an emergency. If I became incapacitated in a declared emergency, Mr. Flores would step to the dais. I asked Mr. Flores if he would be my alternate in an emergency. He graciously accepted.
Mr. Flores is a family man who resides in District 5 of the City of Oakley. He and his wife are raising their children in our City, and they attend Oakley schools. Mr. Flores is the business manager of District Council Sixteen of the Painters and Affiliated Trade Union. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Contra Costa Construction and Building Trades Council.
Mr. Flores arranged for District Council 16 to donate $4000.00 to the Friends of the Oakley Library to construct our new library. He also arranged a $1000.00 donation to the St. Vincent de Paul of St. Anthony’s food pantry to assist families in feeding their families during the Christmas Season. Mr. Flores assisted with that food distribution.
Mr. Flores is a proud member of the Heritage of Latino Culture.
Yes, I believe Ms. Williams observed Mr. Flores’ name on the consent calendar, realized he was Latino, and pulled his name from the item. This is the first time in my fifteen years in Oakley that a standby member nomination was challenged.
Williams said Mr. Flores was not qualified. He had not served in a public office or been a member of the right agency. I brought to the council’s attention his continued work with the trades and his commitment to the City of Oakley. None of it was good enough for Williams. She could sneak off the China on a PRC-paid trip, but Flores’s donating time, energy, and money was inadequate. It became clear that the real issue with Williams and the other council members was Mr. Flores’s Latino ancestry. I moved Mr. Flores’s approval for the standby position, but the Rotary Club of Oakley three plus one did not second the motion, so the motion died.
I want to note that I put some blame for the incident on our city manager, Joshua McMurray. He prepared the agenda. McMurray knew Flores would be rejected, or should have known. He then should have contacted me to inform me of the situation, and I could have removed the nomination. It would have saved Mr. Flores and his family from such a racist, humiliating, and embarrassing rejection.
I will comment on the incident further in the future.
Above is a picture of Williams giving the thumbs up to her PRC comrades and another of Mr. Flores giving The Friends of the Oakley Library a $4000.00 check.
Below is a link to the dialogue and rhetoric of the approval debate.
George Fuller, Ed.D., City Councilmember, District 5, City of Oakley
