WeHo mayor is no fan of Trump
Mayor of West Hollywood makes sure the GOP candidate knows he’s not welcome.
Her letter to his team says his “campaign of violence and intimidation is not welcome in our city.”
Lindsey Horvath has a message for Donald Trump, and it’s not welcoming him to her city.
Horvath, mayor of the liberal enclave of West Hollywood, is adding her voice to those of many other city leaders across the country to say she is fed up with Trump’s campaign tactics and inflammatory rhetoric.
As the primary campaign heads to California for its June 7 contest, the mayor told the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign so, and urged other city and county lawmakers to do the same.
“Where other cities or other communities might roll out the carpet, we’re rolling up the carpet,” she told The Times in a recent interview.
The practical effects? If Trump’s campaign were to apply for a permit to hold a rally in West Hollywood, for example, Horvath says her city officials would reject the application.
But West Hollywood City Atty. Michael Jenkins said that Horvath was expressing her opinion, which shouldn’t be considered an across-the-board rule that a Trump permit would be denied.
“The mayor was expressing her distaste for hate speech that marginalizes and disrespects people; that such speech is inconsistent with the city’s values and unwelcome,” Jenkins told The Times in an email after the story was published.
“Her comment reflected her understanding that the city’s consideration of special event permit applications take into consideration a variety of factors, such as size of anticipated crowd, security arrangements, traffic and parking management, noise control and the like,” he said.
Jenkins added that since Trump hasn’t approached the city, it’s a hypothetical argument.
In a letter to the Trump campaign, Horvath wrote that she was compelled to say how deeply disturbed she is.
“The people of West Hollywood have seen the devastation and destruction that hatred and hate speech can bring. We are home to Jewish immigrants who escaped Nazi occupation in Soviet Russia, to LGBTQ people of all ages including survivors of the AIDS crisis, and to many other diverse constituencies, of which we are most proud,” she wrote.
“We know firsthand how charged language can incite dangerous activity that puts our residents and neighborhoods at risk — and at great cost,” she continued. “While we must always make room for free speech and reasonable — even passionate — debate, your reckless rhetoric is wrong at every level.”
She said she wanted Trump to know his “campaign of violence and intimidation is not welcome in our city.”
“We do not have to agree or like one another, but as Americans and political figures in the public eye, we share a responsibility to lead by example. I take that responsibility very seriously, and I ask that you do the same,” she wrote in closing.
Horvath hasn’t gotten a response from Team Trump. She said that so far, she’s only had residents lauding her position.