Oh my.
This politician takes the prize as half-wit of the year (so far).
The Orange County Register reported that Dean Grose, the mayor of California’s Los Alamitos, sent an e-mail to at least one colleague with a picture of the White House and a large watermelon patch superimposed in front of it.
The e-mail said, “No Easter Egg hunt this year.”
Here’s what one African-American had to say about the e-mail:
“I think [the mayor is] saying that since there’s a black president, there will be no need to hunt for eggs since they’re growing watermelons in the front yard this year,” said Keyanus Price, who told the Register she finds the e-mail racist and offensive.
Oh, by the way, Grose, who is white, sent the e-mail to Price. She turned it over to the Register.
This was Price’s e-mail response to Grose: “Hey, that's not nice at all. Not all black people like watermelon … you should know better than that,” according to the Register.
The Register said Grose replied with: “The way things are today, you gotta laugh every now and then. I wanna see the coloring contests.”
Price told the Register that this response made her more upset.
“As soon as I saw his response; that put me over the top because it was no big deal to him,” she said.
Grose has apologized for the e-mail.
Apparently, Mayor Grose—whether he’s racist, getting thrown under the boss or just plain stupid—has failed to notice that electronic communication embarrasses public figures all the time.
Elliot Spitzer and his e-mail, and Detroit’s ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his text messages, are but two recent examples.
Whatever his motivation, Grose might steal attention from Illinois’ nationally-known politicians. So, on behalf of the citizens of Illinois, thank you Mayor Grose.
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Comments (7)
Jay, appreciate your comment. A police friend of mine once told me the same. I guess I should clarify my point. This is a mayor and the others mentioned are politicians. These are the ones who were caught, and long before then they were very shrewd. And for every one that gets caught, many don't. Look at the parade of tax dodgers Obama nominated for key positions. Last I heard, not paying your taxes is against the law, but they only paid when they were vetted. Bottom line - there is a difference between being stupid and being criminal, although often they do go together. Whether this mayor broke any laws, he's a Neanderthal.
Posted by Anonymous in Midwest | March 3, 2009 9:20 AM
Posted on March 3, 2009 09:20
"You don't have to be stupid to break the law. The jails are full of many rather smart people who just got caught."
Having covered cops and courts as a newspaper reporter, I beg to differ -- if they were really as smart as they thought they were, they wouldn't have gotten caught. In fact, they wouldn't have broken the law in the first place.
Usually, the problem was they were not only stupid, but stupid and arrogant. Generally speaking, not a good combination.
Posted by Jay | March 2, 2009 2:31 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 14:31
Always look both ways before crossing the street, always wear clean underwear and ALWAYS double check before clicking the send button.
Posted by Brian Olson | March 2, 2009 1:48 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 13:48
You don't have to be stupid to break the law. The jails are full of many rather smart people who just got caught. This guy certainly fits the stupid category, but he's not just stupid. His sense of humor reveals a few other derogatory things about him as well, but I won't print them here.
Posted by Anonymous in Midwest | March 2, 2009 1:26 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 13:26
So Grose -- as stupid as he is -- is dumber than Spitzer and Kilpatrick, even though the latter two actually broke the law?
It's a bizzaro world we live in.
Posted by Jay | March 2, 2009 1:06 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 13:06
Racism has sort of been a theme of late at PR Junkie, with this, the cartoon from the New York Post and the anchor at MSNBC using the term "colored." Racist or not, each of the writers/speakers demonstrated extreme ignorance. And while there was a time that jokes like this could have been received in good humor, or the use of the term "colored" was acceptable, those days are long gone. We have to consider our time - this era of zero tolerance when it comes to racism. For anyone to blatantly cross the line, they surely flirt with being called a racist. That said, and I don't say this lightly, this mayor is more than stupid. He has to be a racist for he does know better, and when confronted, he further infuriated anyone with sensibility. He needs to be out of public life. He's a disgrace to his town.
Posted by TJ | March 2, 2009 12:15 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 12:15
"Getting thrown under the boss?" That's a whole different category of embarrassment...
Posted by Anonymous | March 2, 2009 12:09 PM
Posted on March 2, 2009 12:09