On Memorial Day, below the fold on the front page there was a story written by Tribune reporter Brian Powell titled "Mesa City Hall in racial rift."Debbie Driscol, a 10-year employee working as a neighborhood outreach coordinator quit under a cloud of racial discrimination. No, this isn’t a case where a "white" person has discriminated against a person of color. This is a case where because she was white she was the victim of discrimination. It appears that Lisha Garcia; Mesa’s Neighborhood Service Director has recently been thrust into the limelight because of her perceived politicization of her post. Among the charges against Garcia, she publicly spoke out against Proposition 200 which simply required that voters prove citizenship before being allowed to vote. Other accusations can be found in the 35 page report compiled by an outside firm hired by the City of Mesa. Several of Driscol’s claims were substantiated. "I don’t have an agenda that is targeted to a specific race or ethnicity but to the entire city," Garcia stated. Really? From what I have been able to glean from what I have read that is precisely what she is doing. Her race based attitude is being perpetuated by an increasingly ineffective and apathetic city government as well. Most notable in the article was the following line, "City Council members declined to comment, saying that they don’t want to be involved in personnel matters, don’t know much about situation, or are worried about potential litigation." No wonder this city is in trouble. About the only acceptable answer to this question would have been concern over litigation, that I could buy, but not wanting to be involved in personnel matters? Not knowing much about the situation? Come on, you had to fund the outside agency to look into this, what did that cost? You also offered Driscol $24,500 in settlement money. This is a personnel matter and I am sorry if you don’t want to be involved… but that is your job. This is your City Government in action.
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