Huntington Beach councilman's election signs with word "porn," outrages parents
Huntington Beach parents have flooded their local school board's voicemail after a councilman included the word "porn" in his campaign signs for the city's upcoming special election.
"I have fielded no less than 200 calls and texts and messages from outraged parents," Ocean View School Board trustee Gina Clayton Tarvin said.
With the special election on the city's library seven weeks away, Councilman Chad Williams paid for signs against Measures A and B, calling on parents to "Protect our kids from porn." Williams claims there is pornographic content in the city's libraries. It's a similar allegation made by the former mayor, which led the council to approve an appointed committee to oversee which books are allowed in the children's section.
If passed, Measure A would eliminate the review board.
Tarvin said the parents' bombardment of messages is mostly about why the sign was allowed and urging her to take action.
"It's really disturbing because our kids, on their way to school, have to be subjected to something like that," she said.
The signs prompted one parent to launch a petition while someone else started cutting the word "porn" out of the banners.
Mother Alexis Ito said her daughter started asking her about porn after they passed the sign on their way to school on Monday.
"The conversation switches from, 'Oh, you missed your teacher? Are you excited to see her?' To, 'Mommy what is porn?'" Ito said. "This is what is breaking my heart. This has been forced on us and they're stealing our children's innocence."
Williams is unapologetic and said the parents can explain it to their kids without being graphic.
"I'm not going to back down," he said. "Those parents need to know what is in there and they can explain to their kids what it is without getting graphic or detailed."
Tarvin asked District Attorney Todd Spitzer to investigate the legally of the political signs and whether Williams' claims about porn in the library is true.
"Everyone I know, both sides of the aisle, they are tired of our city council using our children as pawns in their political game," mother Jessica Budica said. "There's no porn in the library. Saying that is just a complete dishonest lie."
