Mike Dages Guts the Human Relations Commission - Claims he is Doing us a Favor

Mike Dages Guts the Human Relations Commission - Claims he is Doing us a Favor
By Mike Rhodes
July 12, 2004

Fresno mayor Alan Autry vetoed the funding for the Fresno Human Relations Commission (HRC), sending it back to the City Council for reconsideration. Council members had voted to fully fund the commission by a 4-3 vote in June. Five votes are needed to override the mayor’s veto.

With the fate of the HRC on the line, supporters of the commission counted the votes. With conservative council members Brian Calhoun and Jerry Duncan solidly opposed to the HRC and Tom Bohigian, Cynthia Steerling, Brad Castillo, and Henry Perea in support there was only one person to lobby: Mike Dages.

With pressure mounting, Dages sent out an email saying that by supporting the mayor’s veto he was really saving the HRC. His argument was that the mayor wanted to cut all funding for the agency but that he persuaded him to "not defund the commission but to leave enough money to sponsor Caesar Chavez Day and the Martin Luther King festivities." (Editors Note: Mike Dages misspelled Cesar Chavez’s name)

Dages would have us believe that by reducing the HRC budget by $158,000 he is doing us a favor. The reality is that the $35,000 left in the HRC budget will leave no money for staff, will cripple its work in the community in support of cultural diversity, and eliminate the mediation this commission did between the community and government agencies. The HRC will no longer exist.

What might continue, in 2005, is funding for some of the events honoring MLK and Cesar Chavez. While it is important to honor the lives of Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez, city control over the events does not make everyone happy. The funding has been an endless source of feuding between various factions within the Latino community and several of the MLK events are turned into a soap box by the mayor and other elected officials to explain to us the true meaning of the occasion. To have Republican mayor Autry or an aide from Republican Rep. George Radanovich’s office pontificate about how hard they worked and struggled for civil rights and social justice can be more than even Gandhi could endure.

But, why would Mike Dages side with the conservative faction of the City Council on the fate of the HRC? The word at City Hall is that Dages made the deal to kill the HRC in exchange for his appointment as president of the next council. With Republican council member-elect Larry Westerlund replacing Castillo in 2005, Dages has effectively positioned himself as the crucial vote for the next two years. With the strong mayor form of local government, Dages seems to be strategically aligning himself with the mayor and forming a conservative block on the city council.

This may serve his short term interests, but voters in the poor, working class, and predominately Latino District 5 might be less than excited with their representative aligning himself with a hard right, conservative, North Fresno faction at city hall. Most political analysts believe he only registered as a Democrat (shortly before his race for the District 5 seat) so he could get organized labors support and appeal to the constituents of that district. If Dages is looking to run for re-election in 2006, this alignment with the right might come back to haunt him. But, if his real strategy is to run for mayor, then he is betting his move to the right will be an advantage. After all, the last two mayors in Fresno were Republicans.

If the City Council does bring the mayor’s veto of the HRC funding up for a vote, an announcement will be made to members of the Community Alliance Peace And Social Justice listserv. Public support of the HRC could make a critical difference in getting full funding restored. If you would like to join the (free) listserv, send an email saying you want to subscribe to AllianceEditor@Comcast.net .

The Human Relations Commission will hold its next meeting on Thursday, August 12 at Room 2165N of City Hall. Any person who wants to place an issue before the Commission should first contact the HRC staff at 621-7770.

See an earlier story on the HRC here: http://sfbay.indymedia.org/news/2004/06/1685746.php

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