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Adam Hill apologizes to COLAB

June 22, 2011

Adam Hill

District 3 San luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill  issued the following statement Wednesday afternoon:

“I want to apologize to the COLAB members who took offense to my recent, admittedly strident generalizations about racism.

“I feel strongly about the subject, I denounce it in all cases, and I’m not sorry about calling it out when I see it. However, I don’t believe broad-brush strokes are helpful in making the case. I can and will do better, because it’s an important subject that needs to be talked about openly and honestly.

“Over the past few years, I have received emails that appeal to the basest forms of bigotry and racism in regards to President Obama. I wish these were an aberration, and that the disturbing and demeaning imagery about the President’s race – and the related rhetoric about his origin of birth – were not part of a larger trend. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“To me, criticizing the President and his policies is one thing; but attacking our country’s first President of African heritage by suggesting he is not a native born American, or by resorting to very familiar racist imagery, should not be tolerated by any American. These attempts at humor or forms of political disagreement are dehumanizing, and damaging to our nation.

“It may be of interest to know that two weeks ago, a member of the California Republican Party leadership, Ken Barnes, who is black, wrote a very thoughtful viewpoint published in the Sacramento Bee. In it, Mr. Barnes announced his departure from the GOP because he could no longer tolerate the racial stereotyping of the President that had become all too common.

‘In his viewpoint, Mr. Barnes wrote, “As with any large organization or group, there will always be people at the fringes who hold views that are not representative of the body.”

“I wish I had been so eloquent and tactful in my own comments, both in an email to state Senator Sam Blakeslee and in a follow-up conversation with the press as it related to COLAB.”

 

 


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People use the term “racist or racism” too freely in today’s politically correct world. To call a comedian racist because he wears make up and puts on a wig to do an impersonation is extreme. This is supposed to be comedy. And as such, not everyone gets the joke.

Clearly Mr. Hill can’t get past the make up this Steve Bridges puts on, because he surely didn’t listen to what the man was joking about. From his clips on YouTube, he seems to be pretty tame with the jokes. If he had jumped around the stage acting like a chimpanzee, that’s different, or done a step-n-fetch-it bit. But to make fun of Obama’s Presidency is not racist.

Will Rogers was probably twice as harsh on the leaders of his day.

We are in far worse trouble in this country when the day comes that comedians are not allowed to be funny unless it doesn’t offend anyone. That would be a standard that NO ONE could ever live up to. Being offended is an entirely personal matter. What offends you, might not (probably doesn’t) offend me, and vice-versa.

Can you imagine what would happen if people like Dick Gregory, Redd Foxx, or Richard Pryor were doing the same stand up routines that made them famous in the 60s and 70s?

Pryor had an album called “That Nigger’s Crazy.” Could it be released today with the same title?

When I see a guy like Chris Rock or Dave Chappell doing comedy shows, their audiences are mixed, people of all walks of life, who came to the show to get away from all this politically correct BS and just have a few laughs.

Yes, we as a nation are in deep doo-doo when we can no longer laugh at ourselves, OR others.

To be sure, racism exists in our country today. It always has and always will exist. But Mr. Hill cheapens the term when he tries to hang it on Sam Blakeslee simply because he was going to have the head of COLAB emcee his fundraiser.

Doesn’t Hill know that the Constitution guarantees us the Right of Free Assembly and Free Association? If Blakeslee wants to hang around with the folks from COLAB, who the hell is Adam Hill to tell him otherwise?

Hill should mind his own business and start doing his job. Quit telling everyone else how to live and what to think and who to associate with. For God’s sake, Blakeslee is a Republican and Hill a Democrat.


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Paperboy, you don’t get it. Read my posting below and figure it out. Lobbyist Andy Caldwell has a long history of making provocative racial statements in various ways to inflame and manipulate people. Hiring this comedian is but a mild example. And the public being so predictable, is doing exactly what Caldwell expects them to do as he directs them to demonize politicians that see through his loads of incendiary crap.

EVERYTHING Andy Caldwell does with COLAB money is a publicity stunt designed specifically to enrich Andy Caldwell and those who employ him to do their dirty work.


Don’t be a sucker, Paperboy. I know you are smarter than this. But, maybe you too are “connected” to Andy Caldwell. I wouldn’t put it past Caldwell to have been posting on these forums for months in preparation for this campaign to demonize and replace a “liberal” member of our government with someone who will make the right donations straight into Caldwell’s wallet.


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OK, granted, Adam Hill should have used a better example to illustrate lobbyist Andy Caldwell’s race-baiting agenda that he funds with COLAB donations. Better examples are available and I expect more and more willcontinue to emerge on radio, print and public forums.


But the questions Hill put to Caldwell and fellow millionaire lobbyist MIke Brown were appropriate and necessary. Caldwell and Brown’s bristling, evasive and ultimately extreme reaction to Hill’s straight-forward questions on behalf of citizens is indication that COLAB’s leading spokesmen are not being straight forward with the public.


Andy Caldwell and Mike Brown insinuate that they deserve more political attention and wield more local political power and are better at telling government what to do than you and me. They act as if they represent a constituency large and more important than you and me and dozens upon dozens of organizations and businesses that have been contributing to the SLO County community for decades before “COLAB” blew in a short time ago and are already suggesting to anyone who dares listen that us SLO County voters got it totally wrong when we elected Adam Hill to be our representative, in an election in which the “conservative” candidate was decimated in historic, record-breaking fashion.


WE elected Adam Hill to be one of our County Supervisors. Thousands upon thousands of local citizens voted for Mr. HIll. But now we have Andy Caldwell and Mike Brown arriving from down south asking for money, favors, telling US we’re wrong, and telling US what kind of politicians WE need.


And then they have the gaul to refuse to answer basic questions about themselves and their organization.


In the old west they had a name for new-comers like Andy Caldwell and MIke Brown. But the bottom line, to put it mildly, is that these bullying big-mouth blow-ins have shown much disrespect to the locals. And there are some people who don’t like to see that go down so easily.


Thank you Adam Hill!


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Hill is just a child with a hidden racial inferiorty/superiorty/arrogant chip on his shoulder and Blakeslee does not.

Hill does not have the right heart to be what the public geniunely wants


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I did not realize Adam Hill’s feature until he started the race card on Blakeslee

It is not his features that I dislike, it is him as an person and his progress thus far that I realized what he really is in disguise.

He is a racist and NOT Blakeslee, and why did he risk it (So Why does Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson do it, which Obama does not!)


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Reprinted from the Tribune website, originally posted by “Jazzman”:


Indian Casino interests are among the biggest financial backers of Andy Caldwell, Mike Brown and COLAB.


In his position as a county administrator for Santa Barbara County, Mike Brown oversaw the largest expansion of the Chumash Casino operation and numerous expensive tax payer give-aways to the Chumash Casino operation. At the very same time Andy Caldwell lobbied Santa Barbara County government on the behalf of the Chumash casino.


Andy Caldwell also used COLAB funds to campaign for a recall of one of Santa Barbara County’s hardest working, most honest County Supervisors who, surprise, just happened to be among those who questioned or criticized the taxpayer giveaways and other favors SB County continually bestowed on Chumash Casino operators during the reign of Mike Brown.


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So wiseguy thats your handle on the trib, “Jazzman”?


Inhailing your own exzaust is bad for the brain cells.


Take your personal vendetta to your own blog..


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Oh, I forgot to mention: Chumash Casino Money. Ask Caldwell or Mike Brown about THAT!


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The Chumash Casino is a legitimate business. They have a right to have their views heard, just like you. The idea that COLAB (Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business) might get contributions from a business surprises you, or do you have something against the Chumash?


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No, I don’t “have something against the Chumash.” What I do have a problem with is secretive mega-monied Indian Casino interests hiding behind deceptive, highly-paid local lobbyists attempting to circumvent democracy and push forward self-serving, shady agendas at the expense of tax payers like you and me. It’s been happening in Santa Barbara County for years (The “Mike Brown years, especially). I don’t want to see it spread deeper into SLO County.


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The Indian Casinos are sovereignty affiliated attract organized crime and money laundry activity San Diego The Freedom Fighters of Nicaragua Iran promis software rabbit hole

just sayin.


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COLAB has Native American members and supporters… hmmm… they don’t sound racist.


[WiseGuy: I’d keep my name a secret too if I said the stuff you’ve posted here. Embarrassing.]


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SLOdude, that’s not a very effective litmus test for “racism” or “race baiting”. And do you really think race-baiting or other community dividing activities should be excused if it comes from or is funded by wealthy Native Americans? If so, I don’t agree with you.


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The Grand Illusion:


Could it be that COLAB SLO doesn’t have ANY “Board Members” (except Brown and Caldwell) and only a handful of SLO County members. Does anyone recall the term “carpetbaggers”? It’s not a flattering term, but it might be the carpetbaggers of the 1860s who would feel insulted to be associated with Andy Cadwell or Mike Brown.


Why ARE County Supervisors giving so much attention to Andy Caldwell or Mike Brown? Who do they REALLY represent?


Are they being sponsored by future local political candidates who want a “head start” in trashing their future opponents?


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I took a look at the COLAB SB IRS Form 990 (2009 is the latest the IRS has posted). There are about 23 Trustees (all local addresses) listed each with name, address, company or organization affiliation, phone number, and email address. They also have a six figure bank roll; and pay salaries, compensation and benefits of over $200,000. It appears they represent a very wide coalition of members as they claim. I didn’t look at the COLAB SLO yet.


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Who is the Prez and VP? Just curious.


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InfoResource! Thank-you!


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You seem to be purposely misleading readers on this forum by confusing COLAB Santa Barbara with COLAB San Luis Obispo. It is the latter that I’m referring to when I make reference above the the sham that is being perpetuated.


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Won’t Dave Congalton be pissed off if he finds out that Andy Caldwell is trying to worm and weasel his way into hosting a local talk show on KVEC at the exact time when KVEC currently airs the Dave Congalton show?


I still haven’t got clear evidence how Mr. Congalton is gaining or figures to gain from stridently “defending” them and publicizing them on his radio show. I’m sure it will come clear sooner or later. It couldn’t just be for ratings, could it?


One things is for sure, as secretive, highly-funded lobbyists for special interests, Andy Caldwell’s and Mike Brown’s financial arrangements regarding political contributions, gifts, etc.should be HIGHLY scrutinized so the pubic have a clear understanding if such funding truly is or is not subverting the democratic process, perhaps to the point of illegality. Their whole front of being a “not for profit” organization shows how effective our laws are in allowing grossly misleading political advertising.


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