Piedmont Mayor Under Fire For Politically-Charged Social Media Rants
PIEDMONT (KPIX 5) – Mayor Jeff Wieler of Piedmont is under fire for his politically charged rants on Facebook criticizing liberals and the Black Lives Matter movement, among others.
"Having Jeff's ideology public like that takes Piedmont back 50 years," Piedmont resident Conna McCarthy told KPIX 5.
At Monday night's City Council meeting, McCarthy read Wieler's most inflammatory comments.
According to McCarthy, the mayor on social media said "Black Lives Matter encourages cop killing" and called transgender people "mentally ill." McCarthy said the mayor described Democrats as "the plantation slave masters of today" and the left as "dangerous and un-American," and "intellectually bankrupt."
McCarthy also said Wieler refused to hold a moment of silence after the Charlottesville protests.
"He said to me, 'The moment of silence you will get is I will not engage with you anymore,'" she recalled.
At the meeting, Wielen was roundly criticized by other Piedmont residents.
"Does our mayor really believe in promoting inclusiveness and tolerance or is it lip service contrary to what he really believes?" one resident said.
KPIX 5 knocked on Wielen's door and left a phone message Tuesday night. The mayor sent an email saying he will be out of town on vacation.
At the City Council meeting, he did not deny making the comments, but seemed to paint himself as the victim.
"This has been a painful half hour for me as I'm sure people can imagine. I apologize if, by posting articles from various magazines has offended anybody," Wielen said.
Some residents are calling for Wielen's ouster, but McCarthy said she is willing to wait out the 18 months before his term is up.
"I think he's not the right leader for this town at this moment in time," McCarthy said.