County supervisor calls on Mayor Greg Stanton to stop Donald Trump speech
Jul 10, 2015, 6:17 PM | Updated: Jul 11, 2015, 2:00 pm
PHOENIX — A Maricopa County Supervisor is calling on Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton to put a stop to Donald Trump’s speech at the Phoenix Convention Center on Saturday.
Steve Gallardo is upset with recent comments that Trump made about immigrants and says Phoenix should not let him use the convention center for his speech.
“They have rented out a publicly owned facility to an individual that is going to pound out a hate message and hate rhetoric against the Latino community,” said Gallardo. “It’s unfortunate that the city is going to allow this event to continue.”
Gallardo isn’t alone among public figures. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) called for the local Republican Party to pull its funding on Thursday.
“As an elected official and as a Republican, I’m not excited about this, to say the least,” Flake told the Washington Post. “I don’t think that [Trump’s] views are reflective of the party, particularly in Arizona, a border state.”
Gallardo said he left a voicemail with Mayor Stanton asking him to pull the plug on the event, but the Mayor hasn’t returned his call. Stanton issued a written statement on Thursday saying that Trump has his First Amendment right to say whatever he thinks. But Gallardo says that has nothing to do with whether he should be allowed to use the convention center.
“It’s not a First Amendment issue. It’s not. The City of Phoenix needs to pull the plug on this particular event,” he said.
Gallardo believes that this situation is no different than if another group tried to rent the Convention Center out.
“If the K-K-K (Ku Klux Klan) wanted to rent out that facility, would they allow it? No! Why? Because of the message that the organization would bring to the city,” Gallardo said.
Gallardo then attacked both Trump and another person who will be appearing on stage on Saturday.
“Why are we going to allow this polarizing individual (Trump) to stand on the stage with Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has been found guilty of racially profiling Latinos and continues to costs us millions of dollars in lawsuits?,” Gallego asked. “We are now going to allow this event to happen? No! City of Phoenix, do the right thing. Pull the plug!”
