Here's another Sicko just like you! Move to Fresno....even those living there are outraged at this typical right wing nut case ready to nuke people....even AMERICANS
Duncan's E-mail Note Ignites Fury
By Pablo Lopez and Matt Leedy
The Fresno Bee
Friday 15 August 2003
Fresno council member wrote of using 'dirty bomb' to kill liberals.
Fresno residents and community leaders, outraged by an e-mail message in which City
Council Member Jerry Duncan wished he had a "dirty bomb" to kill every liberal in Fresno, called
Thursday for his resignation, recall or reprimand.
A crowd that gathered in City Hall also chastised City Council Member Brian Calhoun and
his chief assistant, Ann Kloose, who wrote in an e-mail that police should "Cap" members of the
Human Relations Commission.
The commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to ask City Council President Tom
Boyajian to reprimand Duncan. They also want Duncan to formally apologize to the commission
and the community at the council's Tuesday meeting.
"An elected official used city time and city equipment to make threatening remarks about
volunteers for the community," Commissioner Cary Catalano said. "What type of precedent
does this set for members of the community who want to be involved but are fearful that if they
disagree with an elected official, they will be threatened?"
Fellow council members called the e-mails embarrassing. A few commissioners said they
were childish and distracting. Leaders of Peace Fresno were saddened and offended.
About 30 people filled a second-story meeting room at City Hall, where the HRC gathered for
its regular meeting. Most agreed they would be scrutinized by authorities, and likely face harsh
punishment, if they made comments similar to those attributed to Duncan and Kloose.
Kelly Borkert of Fresno said if Duncan "had any dignity and self-respect for the city, he
would resign."
Duncan and Kloose typed out their remarks June 10 during a council budget hearing on
funding for the city's Human Relations Commission.
Kloose wrote to Calhoun: "If these HRC folks bring down a crowd and get unruly, I'm calling
[police] to send over some officers to 'Cap' these guys ;-)"
At the same meeting, Duncan e-mailed two of his staff members and Kloose: "If I had one
dirty bomb and I could eliminate all the liberals in Fresno at once."
When Duncan was asked whether the commission's public criticism was motivated by
politics, he said: "Absolutely. ... The response I have gotten from the public on this has been
100% supportive."
Commissioners said comments voiced at their Thursday meeting had nothing to do with
politics.
"It's about the difference between what is right and what is wrong," Catalano said. "And this
was absolutely wrong."
The Fresno City Attorney's Office made the e-mails public after The Bee submitted a public
records request to learn what council members were writing during the city's recent budget
deliberations that resulted in a $726 million budget.
Calhoun and Kloose declined to comment about the messages.
Duncan issued a statement: "The e-mail was not intended for public consumption. It was
nothing more than a flippant comment. ... For anyone who may have read this two-month-old
e-mail, who was not part of this private conversation and somehow misunderstood or was
offended by the comments, I apologize."
Commissioners were unmoved by Duncan's statement.
"I believe he apologized because he was caught, not because he was sorry he said it,"
Catalano said.
Alex Correa, union leader for the 800-member Fresno City Employees Association, said
Duncan and Calhoun should resign immediately.
Commission Chairwoman Debbie Reyes tried to file a criminal complaint with the Fresno
Police Department when she learned of the "dirty bomb" message, but she was told to report it
to another agency.
She said she gave the e-mails to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fresno County
District Attorney's Office.
Because of a potential conflict of interest, police Sgt. Herman Silva said department policy
calls for any allegation against a city official to be referred to an outside agency.
"It would be like investigating your boss," Silva said.
FBI supervisory special agent John Gliatta said bureau policy prevents him from making a
statement about a potential investigation or even acknowledging if his office received a
complaint.
Assistant District Attorney Robert Ellis did not return a call made to his office.
Mayor Alan Autry, who often is politically aligned with Duncan, said: "The comments are
inappropriate in a public or private forum. The bad thing is that they were said. The good thing is
Jerry has apologized and taken responsibility."
During the budget deliberations, Duncan and Calhoun emerged as fierce critics of the HRC,
which is charged with monitoring hate crimes and organizing community events. The two were
on the losing end of a council vote to amend the city's budget and give the commission
$193,100 for this fiscal year.
Duncan has been at odds with the HRC before.
In March, he removed Fresno State professor Sudarshan Kapoor -- his appointee -- from the
HRC after the commission brought the council an anti-war resolution sponsored by Peace
Fresno.
Duncan eventually offered Kapoor the seat back, but the professor instead accepted an
appointment from City Council Member Brad Castillo.
In April, commission members accused Duncan of harassing them when he pasted to the
panel's meeting room door newspaper articles of Iraqis kissing U.S. soldiers' hands after the fall
of Baghdad.
On the same day -- after learning the commission did not regularly recite the Pledge of
Allegiance at its meetings -- Duncan took a U.S. flag from his council office and placed it in a
room where the HRC was scheduled to meet.
"Councilman Duncan has consistently come off the wall," Reyes said, "and violated the
rights of the HRC to continue to do the work that we do."
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