The Virginian-Pilot
©
CHESAPEAKE
On a 5-4 vote, City Councilman John de Triquet became vice mayor Tuesday.
Along with his own vote , de Triquet got support from the Republicans on the board, including newly elected Mayor Alan Krasnoff. Councilman C.E. “Cliff” Hayes Jr. had four votes for vice mayor. The three other African Americans on the council supported Hayes, who is black.
The selection followed a call by Councilwoman Ella Ward to select a black vice mayor. In times when the mayor was white, she argued, the vice mayor has almost always been black .
It didn’t happen this year.
Krasnoff, on the council since 1990, said seniority factored into the selection. De Triquet was vice mayor from late 2001 to 2004 under Mayor William E. Ward. De Triquet also was vice mayor from 2004 to 2006 under Mayor Dalton Edge.
Krasnoff emphasized the need to keep taxes low in this time of economic uncertainty. It is also important to keep government spending down, he said in a speech that earned a standing ovation .
Debbie Ritter returned to the council, two years after she was unseated by voters. The other new member was Rick West, a retired school principal.
The board is supposed to be nonpartisan, but Tuesday gave the City Council a Republican majority. Krasnoff, de Triquet, Ritter and West are Republicans, as is Councilwoman Patricia Willis.
Council members Hayes, Dwight Parker and Ella Ward are Democrats. Councilman Bryan Collins is an independent.
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Take it from someone who truly knows.....
Alan Krasnoff is NOT a racist! He is a good man. Do not criticize his integrity just because you may not align with his political views or party affiliation. I know Alan and John personally and I know for a fact that they are NOT racists! If Ella, and I know and respect her too, really wanted to make a valid point, why not call for a female vice mayor? Color and party affiliation aside, there are six men and three women on council. If anything, gender is where the misrepresentation lies. Our African-American community is well-represented, maybe over-represented, in Chesapeake in terms of council, police chief, city manager, gov't jobs, etc. If Ella had tossed her own hat into the vice mayor ring and cited the gender imbalance, she would have had a valid argument. Had she won, there would be both an African-American vice mayor, and a woman. Alan, John, and Ella are all good people. Perhaps citizen
Liz, the GOP is to be commnended in this case!
Liz, the fact that the Republican Party affilated City Council members ignored the call for the racially-based selection of the Vice Mayor is something to applaud, not denigrate. The only outrage I saw in this racial mess was the call by a racially-centric subgroup of City Council to elect the Vice Mayor based solely on his skin color. Hum, so ... if all the Republicans on Chesapeake's City Council voted to avoid racial consideration in their selection process, then is it fair to conclude that the racists on the Chesapeake City Council were not only all African-Americans, but they are also all members of the Democratic Party? Interesting. Very interesting. So here we have a case where the Democrats are exibiting blatant racal descrimination! Dr. King would most likely be ashamed of the Dems in this case. Ya gotta love local politics!
SIMPLE SIMON
Prove it. I can't stand racism period. I know de Triquet enough to know he knows what duties are demanded of him and I hope he sticks to it in a city that is really starting to spiral out of control with its racial, political, police, road maintenance issues and more.(too furious to make further comments that do nothing but fuel speculation, hear-say, and so forth) In my opinion, get along or get ALONG.
Seek balance in all things
Is it any surprise to you that the majority are all Republicans? Does that not say something to the public?
If you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention.
To the Chesapeake City Council (5-4)
Ok, You have the votes to set the tone so get going. 5-4 for lowering taxes, 5-4 for stopping some of this crazy spending, 5-4 to stop the building, etc..etc..etc...
So can someone please explain to me
How affirmative action can be a solution to racism?
Perfect name Simple
Racism is racism no matter the pigment of the racist. Can't say you are a racist, but you sound like a carrier.
The Potential Racial Divide
Four of the nine city council members are black - a gold standard of racial representation for a Southern city with a 27% black population. It is statistical reality that whites voted for them, and sometimes in great numbers. And Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans. They did so because council members represent not just some segment of a racial category, but the whole American lot of us. But when all four of the nine form a racial bloc to support a council member for vice mayor solely because he is black like them, rather than a white who has far, far more seniority and experience, then we're reaching back to the old days of racial divide and politics. Perhaps this was only a flare-up of dinousaur thinking. If it continues, voters will take a step back, and we will all lose. (Remember: All The People.)
There is no such thing as "reverse racism"
Racism is racsim frontways backways and sideways. What perpetuates the problem is that blacks are allowed to get away with it which indeed creates resentment among whites. Just imagine the uproar if Krasnoff said a White person deserved that position based solely on the color of his skin.
The problem with racism
Is that it exists and too many white people want to pretend that it doesn't.
Or, worse yet, they like to pretend that the only racism that exists is reverse racism, where innocent, right-minded whites are victimized by blacks and other minorities.
Racism is alive and well and all the pretending, lamenting and pontificating in the world won't change that. Especially if pretending, lamenting and pontificating on message boards is all you do.
You have to be a fool to suggest that race won't be an issue in this election. So lamenting that it will be discussed before, during and after the election, regardless of the outcome, is a bit silly and terribly obvious.
What's really sad is the large number of white people who think racism is someone else's problem and has nothing to do with them.