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.”
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