Two years in the past, licensed public accountant Kenneth Mejia was an activist with so much to say in regards to the presidential marketing campaign, particularly then-Democratic Get together nominee Joe Biden.
Mejia, then a Inexperienced Get together member and onetime supporter of presidential nominee Jill Stein, suggested his followers on social media that each Biden and President Trump had been “sexual predators” — and declared that he would by no means vote for both of them.
On Twitter, he used the hashtag #joebidenisaracist and stated his celebration would save the planet from “company loving rapists like Trump and Biden.”
“I can’t waste my vote this 12 months voting for Joe Biden as a lot as me & my DEMOCRAT associates love him as a rapist & racist,” he wrote.
Now, as a candidate for metropolis controller within the June 7 election, Mejia is on the receiving finish of assaults from his rivals over his political messages. Certainly one of his opponents referred to as Thursday for Mejia to drop out, saying these social media posts make him unworthy of public workplace. Two others stated they confirmed poor judgment.
“We have to restore the general public’s belief of their elected officers,” stated Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for Metropolis Atty. Mike Feuer and a candidate within the controller race. “And we will’t do this by being a Twitter bully making shameful and incendiary feedback.”
Mejia, in an interview, confirmed that he wrote the tweets and stated the truth that his opponents are bringing them up “exhibits that we're successful.” He additionally pointed to his latest endorsement from The Instances’ editorial board, which praised him for his work in offering transparency on how public cash is spent. (The editorial board operates independently of the newsroom.)
“On the finish of the day, I’m targeted, and our marketing campaign is concentrated, on bringing Angelenos collectively by understanding the town’s funds,” he stated. “These previous tweets are a non-story, and never consultant of what I’ll be doing as metropolis controller.”
Mejia’s rebel marketing campaign has introduced recent consideration to the lesser recognized place of controller, which serves as auditor and chief accounting officer for Metropolis Corridor. Using billboard messages in regards to the metropolis finances, outsized pictures of his corgi and a gradual stream of TikTok movies, Mejia has galvanized most of the metropolis’s youthful, progressive voters.
Mejia posted his Biden tweets in 2020, the 12 months that a former Senate staffer accused the Democrat of sexually assaulting her within the early Nineties. (Biden has emphatically denied the allegations.) 4 years earlier, Mejia tweeted a photograph of himself holding an indication with a photoshopped picture of Hillary Clinton behind bars.
On Thursday, Mejia declined to share his views on Biden, saying solely that he left the Democratic Get together at one level out of frustration over its remedy of working-class voters, re-registering with the Inexperienced Get together. He's once more a Democrat.
Screenshots of Mejia’s tweets have been quietly circulating in sure L.A. political circles for a number of weeks. Councilman Paul Koretz, who can be operating for controller, talked about them throughout a March 2 endorsement assembly held by the Miracle Mile Democratic Membership on Zoom.
Mejia, in flip, has been skewering Koretz over his fundraising actions, highlighting the councilman’s choice to carry a marketing campaign fundraiser on the dwelling of metropolis commissioner who oversees the Division of Water and Energy — an obvious violation of the town’s ethics regulation.
He additionally posted a video declaring that Koretz, who promised to not settle for cash from fossil gas pursuits, acquired a $1,500 donation from a Bakersfield oil firm and held a fundraiser on the firm president’s dwelling.
Koretz’s political guide, Parke Skelton, stated the councilman was not conscious of the businessman’s oil ties. The occasion was put collectively by members of the town’s Persian group, Skelton stated, and Koretz has returned the businessman’s donation.
On Thursday, Skelton went on Twitter to submit pictures of Mejia’s now-deleted Biden tweets. He referred to as them “a stunning show of divisiveness and immaturity” — and stated they don't bode nicely for Mejia’s potential to “deliver folks collectively and search compromise.”
“This man is about demonizing, in probably the most vile phrases, folks that he disagrees with,” he stated.
Former Los Angeles deputy mayor Rick Cole, who's backing Mejia, referred to as Wilcox a “authorities hack” and stated Koretz is “financially illiterate.” He provided a vigorous protection of Mejia, evaluating him to a younger Zev Yaroslavsky, who was elected to the Metropolis Council at 26 and went on to a protracted profession as a Los Angeles County supervisor.
Cole, a former Pasadena mayor, stated Mejia is “a fast learner, and he actually needs to do the correct factor.”
“He's a younger, progressive, passionate man who appears round and sees the legacy of racism and sexism, and stated some issues on Twitter that he in all probability now regrets,” stated Cole, who served at one level as a finances advisor to Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Reid Lidow, a former Garcetti aide who can be operating for controller, had a special take.
“Angelenos deserve a controller targeted on integrity and transparency, not political demagoguery,” Lidow stated.
Post a Comment