Clovis’ non-sanctuary discussion should not be led by council member’s social media efforts | Opinion

During my service on the Clovis City Council, our police chief has never before felt compelled to issue a statement in response to actions by the City Council nor have I ever issued a ‘statement’ of my own on any subject where council members disagreed. The city has never been governed through social media or by calling council colleagues out as cowardly, wrong or out of touch because any one of us did not get our way.

Until now.

The Clovis City Council has been caught up in another “made for social media” conflict. Neither the created conflict or its conversations are even about the merits of an actual issue, but are purely about partisan politics, fear, division – and attention.

It has long been held that the role of our Council was to ensure that Clovis was a strong community, united by values we share, moving Clovis forward, upholding the laws of the State of California and the US government, and being the best city in Central California.

Our most pressing problems are NOT how to be like Huntington Beach or how best to ‘align with the current Federal administration,’ as has been suggested.

The recent social media efforts to “make Clovis a non-sanctuary city” included a ‘call to action’ for all those who agreed to contact all of the council members. (I got one email.) That was followed by public demands that we all just fall in line, then name-calling of those of us who dared to disagree.

That is not how effective local government works. It is not how Clovis works. It is not the way to move forward. Here’s why.

▪ Fundamentally, the City Council is NOT a partisan position. We are elected to serve the entire community, not just those who are registered in our same political party or who believe like we do.

▪ Not everyone in Clovis – not even every Republican – wants to align with the federal administration, the State administration, or with any administration. For anyone with experience in our community, it would be clear that we have historically aligned around things important to Clovis. To us.

▪ Clovis is the community it is today because we do the ‘basics’ of local government better than most – public safety, public utilities and land use planning, as examples. Those who say ‘that is not enough’ would be the first to complain if precious local taxpayer dollars were spent on fighting federal and state legal battles that have been proven we cannot win.

▪ Our police officers take an oath to enforce the laws (and not just the laws they like), and they are committed to ensuring that everyone follows them, regardless of immigration status. They work with county, state and federal law enforcement agencies every day to help keep us safe. Why would we put our officers in the untenable position of breaking state laws?

▪ Stoking fear is easier than leading. The language we heard at a recent council meeting was not leadership. It was pandering. And pandering requires no courage at all. It is destructive to so many in so many ways – it is bad for business and hard on our families, our neighbors and on our amazing city employees.

Folks say all they really wanted was to have a conversation.

If that were true, our police chief would not have found out about this issue on social media. He would have been engaged to provided relevant data and other background information to help lead – or at least inform – a discussion.

Instead of a social media assault, there could have been a request that the police chief or city attorney hold a council workshop on non-sanctuary cities and their impact on a General Law city like Clovis. Then we could have identified options to move forward.

If that had been how this issue was raised, you could’ve counted me in. But, since actions speak louder than words, the clear message was that this was about creating public conflict, not a productive conversation.

Clovis residents appreciate a local government that works hard every day, delivers consistent results, and minimizes the chaos so many cities experience.

We must not just watch our community be chipped away, one sensational, fear-based issue at a time. I will speak up for the Clovis – ALL of Clovis – that so many before us have worked so hard to build.

Otherwise, one day, we will find that we are just like every other placeless city around – divided, angry, partisan, and ordinary.

This story was originally published February 25, 2025 at 9:46 AM.