Worcester City Council: no to Arizona boycott
by pieandcoffee - May 11, 2010 10:40pm
Worcester’s City Councilors have a rough job, and I respect them for doing it. But tonight a lot of them acted like cowards and hypocrites.
Three years after voting unanimously to divest from Sudan over the violence in Darfur, tonight they voted, 7-4, that discussion of a similar city boycott of Arizona over the recent immigration law would not be “germane” to the business of the council.
Of the 7 voting to not even discuss the Arizona issue, 6 (if memory serves) were OK with the Sudan divestment–Haller, Clancy, Palmieri, Lukes, Toomey, and Petty. Eddy also voted against discussion, but I don’t think he was on the Council for the Sudan vote.
It’s interesting to note that one of the 3 Worcester residents who spoke in favor of the Sudan vote in 2007, Joe O’Brien, is now the mayor and a supporter of the Arizona boycott.
Related from Jeff Barnard: Worcester City Council and the Arizona Boycott
Related from Worcester Magazine: Liveblogged notes from the meeting