While basking in congratulations from his colleagues and the public at Monday night’s City Council meeting, newly re-elected Mayor John M. Erickson took time to air grievances and issue a subtle warning to his opposition.
“I will not miss this election season because it became so deeply personal in so many ways,” Erickson said during councilmembers’ comments. “My only comment to the members of the public who continue to make it deeply personal is: People in glass houses should not throw stones. It’s literally as simple as that.”
Without naming names, Erickson accused his opposition of drawing city staff members into the campaign season’s conflicts.
“I’m saying that both as a resident and as the mayor of the city,” he said. “The fact that people running in the election took the privilege to accuse public servants of some of the most atrocious things for four-plus years is disgusting.”
Erickson welcomed the Council’s newest member-elect, Danny Hang, to the “first-timer’s club” and compared his integrity with that of his opponents.
“You stayed true to your values, which many people do not,” he said.
Retiring Councilmember Sepi Shyne — who was elected as an upstart candidate alongside Erickson in 2020 but chose not to run for re-election with him this year — praised the victory, which she believes validates their combined efforts in radically changing city policy over the past four years.
“You beat my historic numbers, and I’m so glad you did, because that is a testament to what the voters really truly support — and that is all of the very visionary, progressive ways in which we have moved West Hollywood forward,” Shyne said.
Good for him, he’s accomplished a lot. He gets to wear fun dresses and travel the world, presumably meeting all kinds of interesting and sexy gentlemen. If you step back and look, it makes sense that he would get the most votes. Isn’t this the dream West Hollywood life that everyone lives and adores?
Erickson was right to point out David Woods incorrect addressing of Byers, cause correctly he should have addressed her as Anti Semite Byers. David reached out to Council very nicely, and ofcrouse John and had to be petty and bitchy. Ugh, four more years of this man.
There was nothing incorrect about the public commenters form of address. Citizens are under no obligation to address anyone by any courtesy title. We do not live in a monarchy where we bow or curtsy. Decorum is voluntary, as one can see by the abuse of dais time in the snark and disrespect toward residents of West Hollywood. Both Shyne and Erickson displayed petty and bitchy behavior in their reaction to the public commenter.
Congratulations Erickson and Hang on a well
boughtwon election.What is
Unite Here’syour agendas for the next term?Oh, you said it much better than I did. Thank you.
There is a sad irony that our reelected mayor’s comments seem similar to those of the newly reelected President. Well, perhaps people who stray to the far left and to the far right are really sisters under the skin
I find Erickson’s behavior to have zero difference to that of trump. Extremism breeds intolerance for diversity of thought and those who diverge from extremism are called all sorts of names by the dictatorial attitudes inherent in extremism on both the left and the right.
You are correct, Erickson seems to take a lot out of the Trump playbook. The similarities are quite frightening. Bully, intimidate and lie. Erickson has got this down.
well, they do both have orange hair..
A bit of humility would go a long way for him. Yes, he received a lot of votes, but there are also many people who chose not to support him. I wish his comments were more inclusive and less divisive—after all, he’s not our king.
And more votes were cast for candidates OTHER THAN Erickson and Hang. And if their policies were so popular with residents, Hang would have as many votes as Erickson, but he fell way short. Just goes to show you, in this small city, a recognizable name/face is what gets you elected (and the backing of a powerful union) not because people are behind your policies.
I don’t find the pick 2 out of 11 candidates a fair system. If you have two highly funded radical socialists running against several common sense moderates, and votes are split along ideological lines, the results will be the same every time. We need a citizen ballot initiative to change city council voting to RCV. Or even district based seats, east-side has different needs then west-side. Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) More representative: RCV allows voters to rank multiple candidates in order of preference, so even if their first-choice candidate doesn’t win, their vote can count toward their second or third choice.… Read more »
Gross as ever. Such arrogance. I’d say that’s due to his youth and inexperienced but both of those things don’t ring true anymore.