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Janet Orchard
By JEREMY HAY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Janet Orchard, Cotati’s vice mayor for the past year, was named mayor Wednesday by a unanimous City Council vote.
The 55-year-old councilwoman has twice been mayor before, in 2002 and 2006. An insurance underwriter first elected to the council in 2000, she is the city’s representative to the general assembly of the Association of Bay Area Governments.
Robert Coleman-Senghor
The last few minutes of outgoing Mayor Robert Coleman-Senghor’s term were touched with the same bitter atmospherics that characterized much of his 14 months as the council’s head.
In a period set aside for public comments, former Councilman George Barich, who lost his seat in a 2009 recall election spurred by the use on his website of a photograph of himself in blackface, called Coleman-Senghor a “race hustler.”
The comments, part of a lengthy list of criticisms Barich delivered, were a reference to racial comments made by Coleman-Senghor around the time of the blackface controversy.
Barich and other critics have accused Coleman-Senghor of violating the city’s ethics code because he used racial slurs on at least two occasions.
Coleman-Senghor, who is black, never denied uttering the slurs, but has said he did so to make a point about the power of race-related symbols in the context of a discussion about lynchings.
He did not respond to Barich’s comments, other than to say, “Thank you for your remarks, Mr. Barich.”
Five other residents then thanked Coleman-Senghor for his service as mayor.
“You’ve done a great job in an incredibly negative environment,” said Andre Morrow.
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Robert Coleman-Senghor is a Civil Rights activist.
Kudos/applause/thanks to him for speaking Truth.
Animosities towards people of color continues well past the American Civil War, the Plessy case.
Example: “A poll early this year by McClatchy News Service-Ipsos found “51 percent of Americans agreeing that ‘it is necessary to give up some civil liberties in order to make the country safe from terrorism.’” With President Obama following Stalin’s lead in claiming his right to kill citizens overseas without trial, in controlling citizens’ right to travel, in asserting citizens’ can be arrested and held indefinitely, and that citizens’ homes can be broken into on the flimsiest pretexts, maybe the Treasury Department should issue a two-dollar bill with Stalin’s picture on the far left and Obama’s on the far right. They seem to have more in common every day.”
see full article at: http://www.opednews.com/articles/More-Americans-Losing-Thei-by-Sherwood-Ross-100926-878.html MORE AMERICANS LOSING THEIR LIBERTIES EVERY DAY Sept 2010
Everyone should question the reason for reciting the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE at meetings, at church, at schools, etc.
Robert Coleman-Senghor represents many and his actions were louder than his words. Wake up America!
aloha.
I find it ridiculous that people are complaining about 1) a former marine who served his country not being patriotic enough and 2) someone using racial slurs to illustrate a point when a man who wore black face, took a picture and put it on the town’s website was not only tolerated but supported. Ever since Bob was elected it seems like people wanted to start drama. And I understand that Bob doesn’t pull any punches, and therefore maybe doesn’t make “friends” in small town political circles as readily as some, but all the anti-bob stuff both from Barich and the town busy bodies really doesn’t help Cotati’s image any.
I’d like to thank Mayor Robert Coleman-Senghor for his 14 months of service. It’s because of his public refusal to respond to me or anyone who had a problem with his character and/or public behavior he felt it did not have anything to do with “City Business”, it’s because of his numerous and public verbal insults on myself and other citizens of Cotati, it’s because of his uncontrolled urges to interrupt people, slam his gavel down during “Citizen’s Business” while demanding we take notice as he proclaimed…”I am the Mayor…..I am the Mayor!”, it’s because of his refusal to follow agendized matters and join in while we said the Pledge of Allegiance to our American Flag, it’s because he refused to look at our symbolic flag and so many other reasons, that I will keep my eye on those in our local Government and encourage others to do the same.
My eyes have been open to the lack of respect some treat the honorable seats they hold in public office and in part, I must thank the former Mayor Robert Coleman-Senghor for opening my eyes to that.
Coleman-Senghor’s term as mayor leaves this lasting legacy. He is the mayor who cut expression of public comment down from 5 minutes to 3 minutes originally because he was concerned about long meetings and wanted time specific progression of council items.He started the card requirement to speak so he could shuffle who was to speak when.BS.
Cotati is a small town not Rohnert Park. If out of town representatives had business they got as much time as needed to speak even as he looked down on citizens who spoke as “out of towners” and I lost any respect I had for the man when he called a citizen and “out of towner” as he left the podium with his back turned instead of to his face. He violated ethical standards as put forth in the cities conduct standards for the council. He relished getting in the last word when he knew no one could refute him until the next council meeting. He was the only mayor in my 37 years of living in Cotati who became his own cult of personality. His lengthy oratorical sermonizing, prosyletizing, intellectual dishonesty, and hypocrisy was amazing to see.He engaged in spinning opposite opinions or criticism as if he was the power and the glory. He misused the consent calendar which seemed sometimes in violation of law. He could do no wrong. Would never admit any mistake or wrongdoing. He was to me acting as an emperor without his clothes. It will be a relief to have the meetings run in a fashion which we were all used to before his term. I wonder how he will handle not being able to dominate the meetings, interupt people, cut them off, and constantly interject his ego into proceedings. For all the criticism he dished out to citizens with opposing views, challenging them to come up with ideas, did he ever come up with any himself?
Well, Cotati certainly has recycling its waste down to a science.
I am sorry I missed the council meeting last night , I was sick. From what I have read, it sounded like a battle of wits. On one side you had a former councilmember who was grading the current mayor, and the other side councilmembers were trying to implicate the former councilmember for Brown Act violations. I wish someone had this on video so we could see what really happened. When you are a representitive of our fine city, just be prepared for good old fashion hard love. I truly am excited to see Janet Orchard as mayor as she leads the city in the Pledge of Allegiance. Maybe this mayor won’t slur racist examples. I look forward to seeing the council work in harmony again.
Cotati embraces more failure, just as California voters did in November. So what else is new?
Let’s hope that this new mayor will proudly recite the Pledge of Allegiance, unlike the outgoing one.