On Tuesday, Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe accused Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock of “white fragility” after the council requested the minutes accurately reflect an outburst by Thorpe.
Councilwoman Monica Wilson flipped her vote which allows the minutes to remove the verbatim exchange between Thorpe and resident Sal Sbranti and return to a summary stating, “Thorpe expressed frustration”
At the April 11 meeting, Thorpe made national news as he responded to Antioch resident Sal Sbranti’s public comment as “dog whistle racism, an apologist for what is absolutely wrong with this city” while suggesting they go outside.
At the May 9 meeting, the council did not approve the meeting minutes suggesting it did not accurately reflect what had occurred. Here is what was stated in the minutes:
Sal Sbranti stated Measure C and Measure W were promoted as efforts to increase safety and security by increasing the police force. He discussed allegations of misconduct against elected officials and requested an audit of their text messages as well as body cam footage related to those events. He also requested the separation agreement for a city official and the selection
criteria for those evaluated for their position. He stated he believed Police Chief Ford was part of the process in making a positive cultural change in Antioch.
Mayor Thorpe expressed his frustration with previous public comments and declared a recess at 7:55 P.M. The meeting reconvened at 7:57 P.M. with all Councilmembers present
At that meeting, both Councilmembers Mike Barbanica and Lori Ogorchock said residents reached out to them and wanted the minutes to properly reflect what was stated under the mayors comments and his response. Ogorchock requested they bring back the minutes with an accurate statement.
Councilmembers Monica Wilson, Barbanica and Ogorchock provided direction to bring the minutes back to adjust the meeting minutes to include specific comments passed 3-0.
On Tuesday, Mayor Thorpe pulled the item in consent calendar stating he wanted to rescind the councils action at the May 9 meeting where direction was provided to accurately reflect the exchange with himself and Sbranti in the April 11 minutes.
“The reason I am doing this is we typically do summary minutes. We have not gone outside of that. If we are going to start picking and choosing what we are going to put in the minutes that are verbatim then I’d ask all the minutes come back and we review them and we can put outburst by Councilwoman Ogorchock, we can put other things in there when I have had to use the gavel,” stated Thorpe. “If people want to play games, that is fine, I am not participating.”
Thorpe made the motion and asked for a second—which Torres-Walker provided.
Ogorchock stated this was not a councilmember Ogorchock thing, it was a 3-0 vote.
Thorpe interrupted stating he was pointing out her outburst in which Ogorchock responded she didn’t have an outburst.
“When you had your white privileged outburst and you had your finger in my face like Jan Brewer did to Barack Obama, you absolutely did when you had your finger in my face,” said Thorpe.
Ogorchock replied, “I am surprised you are giving me time to talk, you gave me the floor and you keep going,” who highlighted it was not just her, but Councilmembers Barbanica and Wilson also voted in favor.
Thorpe again stated his motion was to rescind it.
City Clerk Ellie Householder confirmed Thorpe’s motion was to rescind the direction to amend the minutes and revert back to the original minutes.
After some back and forth, Thorpe stated his motion was to “undo the silly little game they are trying to play” calling verbatim “unfair and unnecessary because when you (Ogorchock) had your white privilege outburst I didn’t request that”.
Ogorchock denied that occurred.
“It’s absolutely true, when you were waving your finger like Jan Brewer over in Arizona to Barack Obama,” stated Thorpe. “I am sorry, I am not playing this game.”
The item passed in a 3-2 vote to remove verbatim minutes of the exchange between Thorpe and Sbranti with Barbanica and Ogorchock dissenting. Wilson flipped her vote from the previous meeting after she agreed to the amended minutes.
After the vote, Thorpe stated, “Just so I am clear, I am not here to cave or to appease white fragility. I am not.”
15 comments
Grow some thicker skin Mayor Thorpe. You might be the most sensitive man on the planet. You should also tone down that rhetoric. And people wonder why Antioch has a race relations problem. It starts with the mayor.
Where are the Marsh Creek Democrats? They want to chime in on an outburst by Councilmember Tony Oerlemans but will say nothing with Lamar Thorpe? What hypocrites.
Lamar is not dangerous unlike tony (who carries a gun), do your homework
You’re right, a drunk behind the wheel is not dangerous at all.
@not saying:
You sure about that. Lamar drives under the influence and has sexually harassed women. Can’t say the same about Tony who has never been in trouble with the law.
When is the next mayoral election? Please tell me because I can’t wait! Thorpe is not qualified to be in leadership in this city and continues to prove he isn’t every time he speaks. He frames everything from a black and white, victim perspective, takes zero accountability for himself and continues to be a bigger problem than solution for a city that needs strong leadership. I’m over his petulant, tit for tat, woe it’s me antics.
So in the next meeting is Lamar going to throw out his outburst again when talking about Lori’s white privilege. Why was race interjected in this discussion? I would say first Lamar you’re no Obama and secondly you’re the biggest racist in this city. You bring race up every meeting. Grow a pair and act accordingly not like the baby you are.
It is laughable that Thorpe is always accusing others of “playing games” when he’s the most guilty of it. “White fragility”?
Mr Mayor, sometimes you have to own ones actions. Just like the sexual harassments and DUI’s. Start owning ones actions, not blaming others or deflecting to other council members or the police department. Worst mayor ever!
Mr. Sal Sbranti and citizens of Antioch are owed an apology from mayor for his childish immature behavior.
Changing meeting minutes won’t make video memorializing an inability to behave as an adult in a public meeting.
One has to understand the logic of Lamarland: only Lamar is all-seeing and all-knowing. Anyone who expresses a differing view is “playing games,” exhibiting “white fragility” and is guilty of “dog-whistle racism.”
Must be hard going thru life burdened by such a fragile ego.
Thorpe vocalizes surprising racism in his comments – perhaps a city council member should make a huge deal out of that. If the situation was in reverse, it is guaranteed that Thorpe would have raised the roof off the barn!
I fully support moving the Antioch mayor position from a 4 year term to a rotation amongst city council members. Doing so would eliminate bad actors like Thorpe from having a stranglehold on the council (and city, for that matter!) and would actually best represent all of Antioch.
Then there is the matter of Thorpe having multiple legal issues and is proving time and time again that he is unfit and unqualified to be the mayor of anything!!! He should be recalled!!!
The DVDs of each City Council meeting are retained in the Vault by the City Clerk’s Office AND they are the official record of a meeting. They cannot be amended. Anyone can view meetings on the City website or request a copy of the DVD of a meeting (which costs $10). When I was the City Clerk, I received requests to view the DVDs and the requester had a verbatim transcription made. So, anyone’s comments will be there forever, as those DVDs are never destroyed – they are Permanent Records.
Antioch residents are soooo weak. Keep allowing this to happen. Y’all must like the drama. Weak b-tches. Either remove the problem or own it
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