Tulare supervisor apologizes for attacks on colleague. Latino leaders say that’s not enough
While Tulare County Board of Supervisors chairman Larry Micari apologized to colleague Eddie Valero Tuesday morning at the board’s regular meeting, many Latino leaders felt more than an apology is warranted.
Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias said Micari only apologized because he got caught on video and on audio.
Arias said Micari’s apology doesn’t acknowledge or apologize to the Latino community or his political opponent running against him. The community, he added, needs to know what Micari suggested with his comments.
“He suggested that the board of supervisors has taken policy action to ensure that the establishment leaders of the organization remain in perpetuity. And that Latinos, if and when, they take leadership of the county, cannot exercise their legal authority to change the direction of the county as they’re empowered to do so by the voters,” Arias said.
In his comments at Legacy Church’s candidate forum on Sunday, Micari accused Valero of wanting to fire all “white department heads” once there was a Latino majority on the board and that the board “changed the personnel rules to try to protect that.”
Valero called Micari’s comment “slanderous remarks” that were “100% false.”
On Tuesday Micari apologized to Valero: “So I want to start off this morning by first of all saying I’m sorry to supervisor Valero. And I sincerely apologize for what’s occurred and I just want to hopefully we can put this behind us and move forward. So, I’m very sorry.”
Valero accepted Micari’s apology.
“I’d like to address this past weekend’s incident. Chairman Micari, thank you for reaching out and offering your apology. I truly appreciate your willingness to acknowledge harm, harm caused by this situation. While I understand that mistakes happen, I want to emphasize the importance of honesty and integrity in our interactions,” Valero said.
“Your apology means a lot and I accept it wholeheartedly. Moving forward let’s ensure that open communication and mutual respect guide our interactions. I believe that we can learn and grow from this experience, ultimately strengthening our relationship. I thank you once again for your apology and I look forward to positive interactions in the future.”
During Tuesday’s meeting, Micari had a message to the media.
“And for the media, there will be no further comments on this. We want to put this behind us and move forward and that’s what’s going to happen,” Micari said. “If you call me, you’re not going to get a comment just because we want to move forward. Is that correct?”
Arias said the Latino community deserve to hear from the board about Micari’s claims.
“When a supervisor acknowledges that the governing body is changing policies for discriminatory reasons, (then) the full body and their county general counsel cannot sit silent when such a claim is made and affirmed by one of their supervisors,” Arias said.
“Have they changed termination policies to limit the power of Latino elected officials? That’s a significant allegation, one that’s being made by one of their own that needs to be answered,” Arias said.
Tulare resident Euler Torres, who is the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)’s national vice president, said Micari’s comments imply the county did something to protect white workers to keep the status quote.
“We as a community, we need to investigate what did they do and how did they do it and what’s happening to people of color, are they protected under those same protections that they put for the white workers,” said Torres.
Torres said that LULAC at the state and national level is looking into the incident and Micari’s comments and has sent a letter to the state Attorney General since comments were made inside a church.
The forum that did not include any of the Latino candidates running for office.
“It basically showed their racism in front of everybody,” Torres said. “We are seen as less than anything else.”
Torres said Micari’s comments show the mentality of people who are elected to office in Tulare County.
While LULAC doesn’t support any candidates, Torres said they are speaking out against malicious attacks that use race as fear tactic.
“They are using ‘oh the scary Latinos are going to vote us out and now your jobs are on the line,’” Torres said. “That is the message.”
“I am very disappointed with supervisor Micari,” Torres said.
Lali Moheno, who was appointed to a vacancy on the board but lost her bid in 2004 to win election to the post, said the board of supervisors approved unanimously back in 2021 a redistricting map with three Latino-majority districts.
Tulare County is 66.5% Latino but has only one Latino supervisor.
Those districts were District 1 held by Micari (57.4% Latino), District 2 held by Pete Vander Poel III (55.2% Latino), and District 4 held by Valero (61.5% Latino). District 5, held by Dennis Townsend, is 49.6% Latino.
Moheno said there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to change the way people think about each other and be more tolerant of differences and more accepting.
Moheno said there is no need for Republican candidates to feel threatened by the redistricting map.
“We have an entire group of young, educated Latinos coming out who are very sharp,” Moheno said. “We now have a very much large number of qualified people who can run in any positions in town.”
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This story was originally published February 27, 2024 at 4:53 PM.
