Prescott Council calls on Rep. Stringer to resign
Remarks support white nationalism, some say
Prescott Mayor Greg Mengarelli said state Rep. David Stringer’s use of racially derogatory comments, widely seen as supporting white nationalism, don’t reflect the Prescott community he represents and have harmed the city’s image.
PRESCOTT — The Prescott City Council voted Tuesday to demand the immediate resignation of state Rep. David Stringer over his use of racially derogatory comments.
Mayor Greg Mengarelli said Stringer’s comments, widely seen as supporting white nationalism, don’t reflect the Prescott community he represents and have harmed the city’s image.
“His abhorrent words do not reflect our city or our community and while we condemn them, that word, any word, is not strong enough to express our disdain,” Mengarelli said.
“As proud members of this community, we are horrified that the opinions expressed by Mr. Stringer exist.”
The council’s 6-1 vote came five days after the Phoenix New Times published recordings of comments Stringer made to Arizona State University students last month.
Among other remarks, the lawmaker said, “African-Americans and other racial groups don’t … blend in” after coming to the United States and that, unlike immigrants of European descent, they “always look different.”
He said such differences create “tensions” and “burdens on our system.”
Stringer, R-Prescott, has also said he views immigration of nonwhite people to the country as a threat to national identity, a view also reflected in an online opinion column he wrote last year.
In June, he came under fire after he was filmed saying immigration is an “existential threat” that will change the face of the United States because “there aren’t enough white kids to go around” in public schools.
Stringer didn’t respond to a request for comment after Tuesday’s Prescott council vote.
The council’s vote doesn’t have a binding legal effect. Nevertheless, it was a rare and significant symbolic act in the deeply red community, one that’s unprecedented in recent history.
Residents in the audience stood and
clapped after the vote. One apparent Stringer supporter left beforehand, shouting that the meeting was a “public hanging.”
Following the vote, Arizona House Speaker-elect Rusty Bowers stripped Stringer of his vice-chair position on the Judiciary Committee. A sentencing-reform committee that Stringer had been set to chair was dissolved.
Stringer also was removed from the House Education Committee, but remains on the Government Committee.
Councilman Phil Goode cast the lone opposing vote. He said the vote wasn’t within the scope of the council’s duties and noted Stringer was easily re-elected by the area’s voters on Nov. 6.
“They re-elected him by a large margin with an understanding of his concerns about assimilation of immigrants that were widely published last June prior to his November election,” Goode said.
He said that while he doesn’t condone Stringer’s words, the council’s move could cost them Stringer’s support on issues at the state Capitol.
But the rest of the council struck a much different tone. Billie Orr, the city’s mayor pro tem, seconded the resolution calling for Stringer’s resignation, saying that inaction isn’t an option because “silence is complicit.”
Mengarelli said he hopes the step will lead others to demand Stringer step down from the Arizona House of Representatives. He said he also hopes the House will begin an ethics inquiry.
An ethics investigation could lead to Stringer’s expulsion. He could also face a recall election, though no effort has been formally declared.
Progress Now Arizona, a progressive advocacy group, is circulating a petition calling for his resignation. “A man with such deep-seated racist views has no place representing Arizona,” said Josselyn Berry, the group’s co-director.
Bowers, R-Mesa, hasn’t announced any plans for the House to investigate Stringer, though he strongly criticized his words.
“His remarks don’t reflect the sentiments of the Arizona Legislature, the constituents we represent, and the policies we enact,” Bowers said in a statement last week, calling the statements “vile.”
Bowers declined to comment Tuesday on calls for Stringer’s expulsion, though a spokesman said he would continue to monitor the controversy.
Numerous Arizona leaders and organizations have called for Stringer’s resignation.
That list includes several prominent Republicans such as Gov. Doug Ducey, Arizona Republican Party Chairman Jonathan Lines and Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk.
Ducey and Lines both called for Stringer’s resignation after his June comments.
Stringer represents Legislative District 1, which spans a largely rural swath of central Arizona. It stretches north from Anthem to Prescott and Chino Valley. Stringer won re-election with 33.5 percent of the vote in a four-way race for the district's two House seats. He received more than 67,000 votes — twice as many as the closest Democrat.