Salem Political Snark

Will Alex Jones follow Gator & Denise into Salem talk show oblivion?

Salem is a liberal-leaning city. But local radio stations, with the notable exception of KMUZ, tend to tilt decidedly rightward.

KSLM and KYKN seem determined to compete on who can air the most conservative craziness, as I blogged about last April in "KSLM is trying to out-right-wing-wacko KYKN."

A show featuring two local conservative commentators, Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke (wife of Salem City Councilor Brad Nanke) has disappeared from the KYKN lineup. I emailed KYKN management, asking why this happened, but never got a response.

It could have had something to do with Gaynor and Nanke mocking the Parkland, Florida high school shooting survivors. And maybe the Capitol Auto Group cancelling its sponsorship of their show the month following the mocking made KYKN give them the heave-ho. 

But I don't know for sure. Which is something rarely heard on right-wing talk radio, I don't know, because conspiracy theories abound on national programs such as the Alex Jones -- Infowars show on KSLM weekdays, 9 am to 12 pm. 

Jones has been in the news even more than usual lately. Facebook, Apple, You Tube, and Spotify all have banned Infowars content from their platforms on the ground that Alex Jones promotes hate speech. The Vox story says:

Jones and his various sites are leading purveyors of violent and sometimes racist (and anti-Semitic) conspiracy theories. The tech companies say they blocked Infowars not because of the conspiracy theories, but because, in Spotify’s words, Infowars “expressly and principally promotes, advocates, or incites hatred or violence against a group or individual based on characteristics.”

Here in Salem there have been calls for KSLM to dump Alex Jones. Last month Salem Weekly drew attention to local right-wing shows in a story, "City and school district sponsor right-wing talk radio."

When right-wing pundit Laura Ingraham mocked a Parkland shooting survivor who was speaking out against gun violence she lost dozens of sponsors on her Fox television and syndicated radio show. Two that she didn’t lose were the City of Salem’s Center 50+ and the Salem-Keizer School District.

Both still appear as “Sponsors” of Ingraham’s show and the other far-right radio talk shows on local station KSLM.

Also sponsored by our City and School District is Alex Jones, who, like Ingraham mocked Parkland student David Hogg, calling him a “crisis actor.” Jones is being sued by parents of murdered Sandy Hook Elementary students for claiming on his radio show that the massacre was faked.

After Facebook and other social media platforms took actions to curb Alex Jones' reach, local activist Jim Scheppke called for the City of Salem and Salem-Keizer School District to stop advertising on KSLM. His August 6 Facebook post said:

Alex Jones was banned from most of social media today for "hate speech" but his radio show is still broadcast on KSLM radio M-F. KSLM is still "sponsored" by both Center 50+ (City of Salem) and the Salem-Keizer School District. When are they going to wake up and remove their sponsorship of hate radio in Salem?

Scheppke shared a screenshot of the KSLM sponsors page, which did indeed show the Center 50+ and Salem-Keizer School District as advertisers. There were a total of 55 sponsors at that time.

Now, though, KSLM only lists 48 sponsors. And the Salem-Keizer School District isn't one of them, though Center 50+ is. Of course, it's possible that some sponsors asked KSLM to take them off the web page, but are still buying advertising. 

So far the City of Salem has been holding firm on its decision to buy advertising on KSLM for the Center 50+. (The City of Salem provides 40% of the Center's budget.)

Today Alice Harman called for the City Council to pull ads from KSLM. Here's her Facebook post:

We don't have to support something that we find reprehensible. Alex Jones' show is reprehensible. Any radio station that airs it is reprehensible. Anybody that buys advertising on such a radio station is reprehensible. We don't support that.

Let's ask our City Councilors to propose a Motion to require the City to pull its funding and never again buy advertising on any station that airs hate speech. Email the Mayor and Councilors here: <[email protected]>

I agree. City of Salem officials seem to feel that because their KSLM ads aren't being targeted to be shown specifically on the Alex Jones Infowars show, somehow this makes it OK to spend taxpayer dollars for Center 50+ advertising on KSLM. 

But as Harman pointed out, KSLM has chosen to air hate speech. Every KSLM advertiser (shown above) is supporting hate speech by giving money to KSLM. 

Free speech runs both ways. The entities that advertise on KSLM are free to do this. And citizens who object to the Alex Jones hate speech show are free to take advertisers' support of KSLM into account when they decide how to spend their own money.

Hopefully City of Salem officials will realize that taxpayer funds shouldn't be used to buy ads on KSLM. If this doesn't happen, then the Salem City Council should demand that the City of Salem stop supporting hate radio. 

Email the City Council and tell them this: [email protected]

KSLM is trying to out right-wing-wacko KYKN

When a radio talk show lineup that includes Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck is viewed as too liberal for Salem, it's clear that we've veering into some really right-wing territory. 

But this is the media ground KSLM is claiming, according to a front page story in the April 2018 issue of the Salem Business Journal, "KSLM and the Golden Age of Radio Returns to Salem and the Mid-Willamette Valley."

Hmmmm. 

I don't see how the KSLM talk show lineup has anything Golden Age about it. These guys and gals are way out there on the rightward political spectrum:

Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, Alex Jones.

The story says that Don Wyant and his wife Cindy "had grown concerned that the only local news talk radio being broadcast into the Salem area was not true conservative news, having drifted into liberal positions on many subjects in the news."

(Cindy Wyant is listed as the owner, general manager, and program director for KSLM.)

So who is the other local news talk radio station that drifted into those objectionable liberal positions? It must be Keizer's KYKN -- which is the station that carries Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

KYKN also hosts the Gator & Denise show. Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke are locals with a decidedly conservative bent.

I couldn't help but think of Gaynor when I read this quote from Don Wyant in the Salem Business Journal story (RINO is Republican in Name Only; CINO is Conservative in Name Only):

The staff and family of KSLM are true conservatives and like Don Wyant likes to say, "You won't find any long-haired RINOs or CINOs hanging out here and representing us. What you will find is a team of true Oregonians that love Oregon, love Salem and care about the community. We are all about family and values and believe that comes across on KSLM, every minute of every day".

Long-haired RINOs or CINOs? These two do fit the long-haired part of the description.

It's kind of fun to see KSLM trying to out-conservative KYKN. It's also a bit confusing, given that Salem is a decidedly liberal-leaning city. 

Seemingly it would make more sense for a news/talk radio station to be on the moderate side, given the political makeup of the Salem area. But liberal talk radio hasn't been much of a success, given the notable failure of Air America to survive.

The problem is that us progressives have a strong belief in facts, so news and talk tend to be redundant.

Extreme conservatives, on the other hand, have no problem talking about totally made-up crap, so I've little doubt that KSLM has an ardent listener base who eats up the right-wing conspiracy theories spawned by the likes of Sean Hannity and Alex Jones.

And since KSLM and KYKN are both seeking to attract the 38% of Salem citizens who voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, it makes sense for KSLM to stake out the farthest right territory on the radio dial. Here's another quote from the story:

With so much fake news all around and compromised conservative news, it is comforting to finally have this level of true news that Salem area residents can count on. As Cindy puts it, "I thought the term RINO meaning 'Republican in Name Only' described only people... but we have come to realize it can mean organizations, media and much more. There is also a growing CINO group... meaning 'Conservative in Name Only.' CINOs and RINOs are becoming more common in news talk media, that has historically been conservative, and are attempting to influence conservatives towards liberal agendas, which is just wrong."

KSLM also is trying to set itself up as standing up to local liberals.

Being dedicated to bringing true news to Salem residents does come at a cost, however. Since it launched, it has been under attack from local liberals that have tried to discredit it and to harm it. That has not discouraged the family or staff, in fact they say it has made them more determined than ever to serve the Mid-Willamette Valley and continue to bring the one-of-a-kind format to local listeners.

This is a perplexing charge. I'm a local liberal, and I'm not aware of anybody in my "tribe" who has attacked KSLM.

This blog post is a first shot on that front, from what I can tell from a Google search that turned up exactly zero liberal attacks. I also searched Facebook for liberal criticisms of KSLM and also came up with nothing.

Naturally I was curious to see who was on the KSLM "sponsors" page. I wasn't shocked to see Capitol City Republican Women or Shilo Inns, but Enlightened Theatrics was a bit of a surprise.

Not that there's anything wrong with them advertising on a right-wing radio station. I just associate Enlightened Theatrics with a more inclusive political philosophy than KSLM advocates. 

Capitol Auto Group cancels sponsorship of Gator & Denise radio show

Let's give some love to the Capitol Auto Group for standing up to right-wing extremism and lies on a local radio show. If you want to thank the folks at Capitol Auto Group, a message can be sent via their web site's "Contact Us" page.

A post on the Salem Resists Facebook page reports that after the Capitol Auto Group was contacted about advertising on KYKN, where the Gator & Denise show had mocked survivors of the Florida high school shooting and wrongly called one of them a "crisis actor," Capitol Auto Group said they had pulled their sponsorship of that show and will review their association with KYKN when the current contract is concluded.

Don’t remember if it was this page or another one, but Brian Hines reported about the Gator & Denise show on kykn & the terrible things they said about the parkland survivors. The station’s webpage lists the station sponsors. I contacted Capitol Auto group because I bought my last car from them & had planned on buying my next one there. I let them know I would go elsewhere because of their support to kykn & the program.

Here’s their response. “We at Capitol were made aware of the situation and have taken steps to address it. First we met with the radio station in question after hearing of the broadcast. Our sponsorship of the show in which the broadcast occurred has been cancelled. In addition, when our current contract is concluded we will closely review our association with KYKN.”

Yes, I did indeed report on the terrible things Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke said about the Parkland survivors in "Gator & Denise hate radio show mocks Florida shooting survivors."

Gaynor and Nanke would be odious enough if they simply promulgated extreme right-wing views. What makes them truly obnoxious is their habitual spreading of lies that anyone with an Internet connection and a minute or two to spare could easily detect. 

But they don't take the time to do that, because truth doesn't matter to Gator & Denise.

In the clip from Tuesday's show they parroted a conspiracy theory that one of the Parkland students is a "crisis actor" who goes around the country getting on TV to spout his liberal views in a ghoulish fashion, to quote Denise Nanke. 

This, of course, is completely false. David Hogg is a genuine Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student. A CBS-Los Angeles story explains how unethical right-wingers conjured up the false "crisis actor" propaganda. 

The fact that a major KYKN advertiser would revoke its sponsorship of the Gator & Denise show indicates how student activism following the seventeen shooting deaths at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school by someone wielding an AR-15 assault rifle has changed the tone of the gun control debate in this country.

(Here's a list of all of the KYKN advertisers/sponsors.)

Pleasingly, there's now much less tolerance for extremism that doesn't recognize the urgent need for action on mass shootings that keep on happening in these gun-crazy United States. Numerous corporations have cut their ties with the NRA, which so far is stonewalling efforts to prevent the next mass shooting.

Ordinarily I'm not wild about boycotts and demands that businesses stop advertising on certain media outlets. But exceptions like this one are important when there's a consistent pattern of someone going way over the top on negative hate speech. Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke don't merely engage in conservative talk. Their tone is often mocking, insulting, and degrading.

For example, they ranted about the Salem City Council passing an inclusive city resolution in much the same way they mocked student activists who survived the Parkland mass shooting. 

Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke (wife of Councilor Nanke), who are right-wing talk show hosts on KYKN, engaged in a rant about the City Council's approval of the Inclusive City resolution. They actually called the 43 concerned citizens testifying about the fear and anxiety caused by Trump's effort to deport undocumented immigrants a "mob mentality."

So it's good that KYKN advertisers are feeling some heat for sponsoring the Gator & Denise show. Everybody makes factual mistakes from time to time. That really isn't the issue here, though Gaynor and Nanke shouldn't have uncritically accepted the "crisis actor" conspiracy theory.

More importantly, they've demonstrated a pattern of engaging in what I like to call "hate radio" talk. Sure, this is common among extreme conservatives. Rush Limbaugh, who also is carried by KYKN, has made a career out of crude insults. But we shouldn't let Salem become another bastion of hate radio speech. 

Capitol Auto Group has done the right thing. Over many years my wife and I have bought or leased six cars from them (a couple of Toyota Priuses and Highlanders, plus a couple of Chevy Volts). Now we'll feel even better about being Capitol Auto Group customers.

Mayor Chuck Bennett wasn't on the Gator & Denise show this past Wednesday, which is the usual day he's on the show.

I don't know whether this is a sign that Bennett is rethinking the wisdom of being a regular on the show, or if there was some other reason for his absence. But hopefully he and other members of the City Council will seriously consider saying NO to being on the Gator & Denise show.

Gator & Denise hate radio show mocks Florida shooting survivors

Hate radio is despicable wherever it comes from. And when its being broadcast from right here in Salem, there's even more reason to condemn it. 

Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke (wife of city councilor Brad Nanke) took to the KYKN airwaves on Tuesday to mock the Parkland, Florida high school students who survived the massacre that claimed the lives of 14 classmates and three adults.

How sick is that? Really sick. 

I learned about this latest episode of the hate radio series that goes by the name of the Gator & Denise show via a Facebook post put up by Jim Scheppke, who has the guts to listen to the crap Gaynor and Nanke spew and report on it. You can listen to the disgusting 10-minute clip here.

This is what Scheppke said in his post:

I invite you to listen to this 10 minute rant from our home-grown right-wing radio talk show hosts where they compare the Parkland students to Hitler Youth, among other ridiculous and outrageous assertions. Then ask yourself why our Mayor, Chuck Bennett, appears on their show every Wednesday. Does he never listen to it the other four days of the week? I think he should consider whether his appearances on this show legitimize and normalize the hatred and ugliness that is not contributing to the betterment of our community. I like our Mayor and I think he is doing a good job, but I think he makes a mistake and does his constituents a disservice by contributing to this radio show.

Indeed, Mayor Chuck Bennett is a weekly guest on the Gator & Denise show. They use Bennett to promote their show, which means Salem's Mayor is helping to spread lies and hate. 

Gaynor and Nanke would be odious enough if they simply promulgated extreme right-wing views. What makes them truly obnoxious is their habitual spreading of lies that anyone with an Internet connection and a minute or two to spare could easily detect. 

But they don't take the time to do that, because truth doesn't matter to Gator & Denise.

In the clip from Tuesday's show they parroted a conspiracy theory that one of the Parkland students is a "crisis actor" who goes around the country getting on TV to spout his liberal views in a ghoulish fashion, to quote Denise Nanke. 

This, of course, is completely false. David Hogg is a genuine Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student. A CBS-Los Angeles story explains how unethical right-wingers conjured up the false "crisis actor" propaganda. 

A Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting survivor opened up to CBS2 after becoming the target of a conspiracy theory. Some are calling 17-year-old David Hogg a phony and a fraud, but he’s fighting back against those reports while trying to be a vocal leader for his peers in an effort to tighten gun laws following last week’s massacre.

Hogg is one of several Stoneman Douglas students leading the charge against gun violence after 17 of his classmates and teachers were killed. He’s been interviewed by CBS News and other major networks multiple times. CBSLA’s Andrea Fujii caught up with him after he was in town for Dr. Phil and CNN interviews.

...Fujii interviewed Hogg last August in Redondo Beach and now that story has gone viral. Hogg was visiting family and friends in Los Angeles when he recorded a confrontation between one of his friends and a lifeguard. Now skeptics are claiming the teen doesn’t even live in Florida. But CBS News confirmed he is a Stoneman Douglas High School student.

What boggles the mind is that Gator Gaynor said that the supposed crisis actor was fake news, when in reality it was Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke who were spreading fake news on their radio show.

Here's another bit of fake news from Gaynor in the audio clip.

He read a quote that supposedly was from Joseph Stalin: “America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within.”

But Snopes says that the quote is fake. Stalin never said that. Again, it took me just a minute or so to learn this. Ben Carson also repeated the false quote during a presidential debate. A Washington Post story says:

And we would note for emphasis here that Carson did not utter these comments in the midst of a lengthy policy debate in which he was speaking off the cuff. This was his closing statement -- a closing statement that is undoubtedly something planned and practiced.

The fact that Carson used a false quote is the latest piece of proof that perhaps he's out of his league on that debate stage.

Well, Gator Gaynor's use of the false quote shows that he's out of his league as a radio talk show host. Oh, except the Gator & Denise show is part of right-wing hate radio, which doesn't have any ethical or factual standards.

So Gaynor and Nanke will keep on spreading their lies, because their audience doesn't care about truth. I just wish Mayor Chuck Bennett wouldn't support them by appearing weekly on their show.

I was right about the Salem Bridge Solutions disturbance. Gator Gaynor was wrong.

Ah, it always feels so good to be proven correct about a local issue I blogged about.

Especially when  a local conservative talk show host, KYKN's Gator Gaynor, criticized me for supposedly falsely claiming that a pro-Third Bridge group, Salem Bridge Solutions, had disrupted a recent meeting of the West Salem Neighborhood Association. 

After I wrote "Salem Bridge Solutions 'goon squad' roughs up West Salem NA meeting" and posted a link on a Salem City Council Facebook discussion page, Gaynor started up with his fake news! blather. 

Here's a screenshot of the comment interchange between Gaynor and me.

Well, what I pick is a third option... THE TRUTH. 

The current issue of Salem Weekly has a column by city councilor Tom Andersen about the West Salem Neighborhood Association meeting called "Urging Civility." 

Andersen, an attorney, wrote the piece after talking with seven people who were at the meeting, including Councilor Jim Lewis -- who represents West Salem. The column backs up what I said in my blog post, which was based on two reports that were emailed to me from people who also attended the meeting.

Here's what Councilor Andersen said. As he notes, these thoughts were previously shared July 26 on his Facebook page. I doubt that Gator Gaynor will be apologizing to me, but I accept his unspoken apology regardless. Or are you going to call Councilors Andersen and Lewis liars also, Gator? 

Urging Civility

A week ago last Monday at the West Salem Neighborhood Association, there were a series of totally inappropriate vocal and physical disturbances instigated by folks who support a new bridge, based primarily on emotions without much critical analysis. It was very disturbing, especially in light of what is happening nationally. I commented on it at length at Monday’s council meeting. I spoke from written notes which are reproduced below. Sorry for the length (especially without pictures!) but this issue is important.

One of the functions of Salem neighborhood associations is to receive and discuss information concerning city projects and proposed projects and to inform the council of the NA’s positions on any given issue, including any differences of opinion. It is expected that any NA discussion shall be civil, respectful, and allow all sides to have their say. Unfortunately this did not happen at last week’s West Salem neighborhood’s meeting.

While I was not there, I have spoken to seven people who were, including Councilor Lewis. While some may disagree as to the rationale for and history behind the actions taken, all agree that the meeting was disruptive, disrespectful and totally antithetical to how neighbors should behave, much less how human beings should behave. The co-chairs of the NA were interrupted, shouted at, talked over, accused of bad faith, had the microphone taken away after the chair had declared the meeting adjourned, and accorded absolutely no respect or civility.

The instigators of the majority of this behavior were persons in favor of the proposed Salem River Crossing, a matter which was not even on the agenda at the meeting, except tangentially with respect to a motion contained in the minutes of the previous meeting. While the NA’s parliamentarian, in an attempt to keep order, did inappropriately shout “sit down” at the people who were disturbing the meeting, he appropriately apologized to them for his actions.

I am certain that the proponents have deep felt and sincere beliefs as to the necessity of the proposed bridge. I believe that they have every right to their beliefs and every right to discuss the situation in a respectful and civil manner. What happened at the meeting is not proper behavior; not behavior that anyone should be proud of, and not behavior that should be repeated in any setting. This is not the type of behavior which should be allowed to pass unnoticed. It must be stopped now.

People, in spite of our differences of opinions, we should all treat others as we would wish to be treated. All sides should discuss city issues on the merits of the issues themselves without resort to ad hominem and personal attacks.

Neighborhood Associations are a microcosm for the issues we face as a community.

• We are all a part of Salem. We are all neighbors.

• Whatever our views, we can agree to disagree.

• We will always strive to be civil in our conversations with our neighbors.

To that end, councilor Lewis and I will be appearing on CCTV later this week to urge people on all sides of any given issue to follow these guidelines and to discuss the high value that the Council places on civic discourse in our community.

Tom Anderson is a trial lawyer and has served as Ward 2 city councilor since January 2015. This text was originally posted on his Facebook page: Tom Andersen – A Progressive Voice for Salem 

Salem right-wing talk show hosts Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke decry Inclusive City resolution

Last Monday the Salem City Council unanimously approved an Inclusive City resolution after hearing highly emotional, and also highly reasoned, testimony from 45 citizens -- all but two of whom supported the resolution.

Person after person talked about the fear being experienced by both undocumented and documented immigrants after Trump announced stepped-up deportation efforts. They urged passage of the resolution to show these immigrants that Salem cares about them and will support them.

But as I blogged about in "Citizens strongly support Salem 'Inclusive City' resolution. Conservatives not so much." there was both subtle and not-so-subtle resistance to the resolution among the four conservatives on the City Council: Mayor Bennett and councilors Brad Nanke, Steve McCoid, and Jim Lewis. 

Likewise, Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke (wife of Councilor Nanke), who are right-wing talk show hosts on KYKN, engaged in a rant about the City Council's approval of the Inclusive City resolution. They actually called the 43 concerned citizens testifying about the fear and anxiety caused by Trump's effort to deport undocumented immigrants a "mob mentality."

I shared the vehement remarks by Gaynor and Nanke on SoundCloud. But since many people won't take the time to listen to the 10-minute recording, I've made a transcript of a portion of what they said.

I was stimulated to do this after reading an OPB story about an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) arrest of an immigrant who has lived and worked here since 2001.

I defy anyone, including Gaynor and Nanke, to read "ICE Plans to Deport Oregon Immigrant With 5 Children, No Criminal Background," without feeling outrage at the Trump administration's action, and sympathy for Roman Zaragoza-Sanchez and his family.

Roman Zaragoza-Sanchez picks strawberries in an undated family photo. Amelia Templeton/OPB

Here's an excerpt from the OPB story:

Zaragoza-Sanchez’s arrest, along with a recent immigration raid in Woodburn, Oregon, illustrates the expanding categories of undocumented immigrants federal officials are targeting for arrest and deportation.

Most significant, ICE has confirmed that in Oregon it has arrested and detained Roman Zaragoza-Sanchez and at least four immigrants in the Woodburn raid who do not have criminal records aside from offenses related to their entering the country illegally.

These cases appear to validate the concerns of immigration activists, who say President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on immigration, and two Department of Homeland Security memos that followed it, effectively make all 11 million people who have entered the country illegally into potential targets for deportation.

But all this doesn't matter to Gator Gaynor and Denise Nanke, who don't see any need for the Inclusive City resolution. Of course, Nanke's husband, Councilor Nanke, voted for it. As you can read below, though, Gaynor and Nanke saw no purpose to the resolution, and actually believe it made Salem worse.

Obviously these right-wingers are out of touch with the majority of people in Salem, judging from the amazingly inspiring, and virtually unanimous, display of support for the Inclusive City resolution at Monday's City Council meeting.

It's disturbing that Mayor Chuck Bennett has chosen to appear on Gaynor and Nanke's talk show after every City Council meeting.

One would think that Bennett would rather choose some other way to communicate with citizens other than a right-wing radio program that disparaged Salem progressives, including City Councilor Tom Andersen, who sponsored the Inclusive City resolution. 

Read on. I did my best to make this partial transcript as accurate as possible. The 10-minute recording of Gaynor and Nanke's remarks can be heard here. 

Gator Gaynor: I am not a racist. The idiots who say this are clearly exactly who I describe when I am discussing progressive tactics.

…Denise Nanke: There was one side, and it was Tom Andersen, who brought this whole thing up, grandstanding on the backs of these people. It was using it as a wedge. It was really cynical. It was cynical politics and it was hiding behind a veneer of compassion. Because the very people that they’re claiming to be helping are the ones they’re standing on top of to make a point. So they use this as a wedge to further divide our community.

…This group Progressive Salem used the very people they claimed they wanted to be helping as a wedge issue in this community. They wasted everybody’s time, they whipped up the crowd, they whipped up everybody, into an emotional… I mean people were practically crying, Tom Andersen was practically crying. And you know, it was just theatre. It really was theatre.

…Gator Gaynor: One thing I kept hearing, Denise, throughout the arguments last night and today, “Well, in response to the national climate that President Trump is setting…”, I was thinking, “Are you children?

Denise Nanke: And, Trump. There it is. OK, we’ve got that out. And you know, Councilor Kaser’s comments again, heartfelt or whatever, they are talking points that is a part of a narrative that is being spun out by a certain faction of these organizing groups from the left, echoing talking points. But my question is, what was the motivation for putting… this resolution, it did absolutely nothing, it was purely for show. It basically just reinforced procedures and laws and ordinances that already are on the books and have been f0r years.

So what it really did, I think it did a lot of damage last night. It further drove a wedge into the Salem community. It did damage. When you have special interests that coming in here who are not really interested in the individual people. They can claim that they are, but they’re really not, because I think a lot more damage was done.

…Gator Gaynor: We woke up today, with for better or worse, the same Salem as it was last night.

Denise Nanke: Actually, I think, a little worse for the wear. Councilor Tom Andersen actually did damage last night.

…Gator Gaynor: First of all, I don’t agree with this resolution. I think it was not only a waste of Councilor Andersen’s time, it was a waste of the Council’s time, and it was a waste of everyone’s time, and even ours, because we’re having to respond to this.

…Denise Nanke: It clearly was a stunt

Gator Gaynor: Of course. But you can’t tell them that. Because as soon as you say that, the names start coming out. “Well, you don’t want to be inclusive?” We are inclusive.  As a matter of fact, Salem and the State of Oregon are already in defiance of federal immigration law. So your resolution did nothing. I’ve asked several people today, “Don’t chew my head off, I’m just asking the question, “What did last night’s resolution do?” And every single response I got was emotionally driven. “Well, you know, it really sets the record straight.” Well, it did jack nothing,.

…Denise Nanke; You know, you had kind of a mob mentality last night, the place was packed.