#Occupy Sympathizing City Officials Attack Tea Party Over Flag Display
Posted by Gateway Guest Blogger on Monday, July 9, 2012, 1:08 AM
The Tea Party float won Best in Show at the Las Cruces Electric Light Parade.
By Rachel Pulaski
Mayor of Las Cruces, Ken Miyagishima has launched an attack against the Las Cruces Tea Party. On July 3rd the city held its annual Electric Light Parade hosted by El Paso Electric Company and the Tea Party won “Best in Show’ with a prize awarded in the amount of $1,000. The 3 part float displayed 28 flags from New Mexico’s history including the Confederate flag. Mayor Miyagishima issued a letter of apology to the citizens of Las Cruces for the public display of the Confederate flag after a public complaint was posted by Marsha Garcia from ProgressNow New Mexico: Mayor Miyagishima released the following statement:
Good Evening,
I, along with the city council, city staff and the people of Las Cruces were caught by surprise when the Las Cruces Tea Party float, with a Confederate flag displayed, won the Best of Show award at the Las Cruces Electric Light Parade on July 3. It was all the more disturbing when that Confederate flag represents a view so contrary to that held by the City of Las Cruces and 99% of our people.
The Las Cruces Tea Party can believe whatever it wants, but to have this symbol and what it represents, highlight the winning float at a celebration of our nation’s independence is an outrage. I deeply apologize to the people of Las Cruces as well as our friends throughout the State of New Mexico for the pain that this has caused.
I’m sure that parade sponsor El Paso Electric and the 4th of July Planning Committee share this sense of outrage, and I can assure you that we will thoroughly review the rules and procedures for next year’s parade to make sure that this never happens again!
Regards,
KEN MIYAGISHIMA
Mayor of Las Cruces July 8, 2012
KRWG reported the Mayor was quick to clarify his blatant disregard of the first amendment on Facebook:
In a Facebook post by the Mayor, that exclamation point was removed and another sentence was added: “Please be assured that the freedom of speech will not be infringed upon when these charges are made.”
So how does one prohibit the public display of a flag without disregarding one’s freedom of speech?
Mayor Miyagishima has never been a big fan of the U.S. Constitution. In February of 2011 he announced at a city council meeting he wanted to implement gun regulations within the city despite being told by the City Attorney Harry “Pete” Connolly several times the attempt would be “unconstitutional”. News New Mexico reported:
City Attorney Connolly stated it would be unconstitutional because the NM Constitution says cities have no right to interfere with the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Mayor Miyagishima said, “Of course we could always do it ourselves and let someone challenge us on it.”
In April of this year Miyagishima and the rest of the city officials made international headlines when they made the decision to shut off sewer, water and gas to citizens who have not paid their red light camera tickets. Just recently, the city officials moved to embrace these unlawful cameras while other cities are ruling them “unconstitutional”. The citizens of Las Cruces have been forced to hold rallies to protect their water from their local government.
The fact is, Mayor Miyagishima has never once reached out to the Las Cruces Tea Party despite having been invited several times to meetings and events. However, he did make concessions with the Las Cruces “Occupiers” allowing them to squat for three months in a park in front of the public library and City Hall. The group was even allowed to “bathe” in the restrooms of City Hall. This same park was denied to the local Tea Party group for a “Tax Day” event because the city feared the occasion would impede on the library’s parking.
Mayor Miyagishima has little or no knowledge of the history of the Confederate flag or the history of New Mexico. The town of Mesilla (the town adjacent to Las Cruces) was the Confederate capital of New Mexico and Arizona during the Civil War. The Las Cruces Tea Party pointed out in their response to the Mayor, the theme of the parade was “New Mexico History” and the Confederate flag has a part in New Mexico’s history:
“On March 10, a scouting party of southern troops entered the evacuated capital, and for more than two weeks, the Confederate flag flew over the ancient Palace of the Governors.” (excerpt from “A Cuarto Centennial History of New Mexico” by Robert J. Torrez)
The Mayor is clearly upset that the Tea Party won. Let us be truthful that this is not an issue about a flag. If the local “Occupy” float had won and flew a Confederate flag, the mayor would have been just fine with it. This is about the Tea Party plain and simple. This coward of a mayor likes to use his mayoral platform to smear the Tea Party any chance he gets. His political stunts create division and hate, a classic Progressive.
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Redwine commented:
I take it that Mayor Miyagishima is of Japanese descent. If so, does he realize that it was a shameful unconstitutional decision by our SCOTUS [Toyosaburo Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944)] that incarcerated Japanese Americans under the near-dictatorial regime of Democrat (Progressive) President FDR? Miyagishima’s blatant disregard of the First Amendment is abominable. He has abandoned the Constitution and American history in favor of political correctness and pandering – a major fault that runs throughout the Democrat Party from the top down.
David commented:
It seems to me that from this point on , any person running for any elected office 3 questions should be asked first. 1. Have you read The Constitution?
2. Do you understand The Constitution?
3. Do you support and swear to uphold The Constitution?
If all 3 questions aren’t answered with a resounding yes, then this person is not qualified and should not be considered electable. It’s really that simple.
Highlander commented:
Yes, David it is simple. I cannot begin to understand why we haven’t made it an impeachable offense, if not outright treason, for an elected official to ignore our Constitution!
Freddy commented:
Hey wait a second, this is a 3 part float! The New Mexico STATE flag is NOT even in this picture! Where are the other two MAJOR pieces of this display?
What a fool this mayor truely is.
pagar commented:
I believe the Mayor is wrong. The float shows parts of the New Mexico history and the cited paragraph shows that the flag is a part of that history.
““On March 10, a scouting party of southern troops entered the evacuated capital, and for more than two weeks, the Confederate flag flew over the ancient Palace of the Governors.” (excerpt from “A Cuarto Centennial History of New Mexico” by Robert J. Torrez)”
How can he deny that?
Sasja commented:
#8 July 9, 2012 at 5:55 am
pagar commented:
How can he deny that?
He’s a democrat.
Joe Blow commented:
Democrats always disregard the constitution. Every day all over the USA the liberal judges and politicians throw it on the trash pile. Wake up America, get them out of office.
Frank Scarn commented:
The Stars ‘n Bars ain’t the Swatizka. Except to the Left.
LaDonna In Las Cruces commented:
I live in Las Cruces and the uproar over this float is unbelievable. If the Confederate flag flew over our state, then why shouldn’t it be recognized? This was supposed to be a celebration of NM’s 100 years as a state. Do we just ignore our history (we know how well that goes over). Granted, the flag flew (supposedly) when NM was a territory, but does that change anything? I am so disgusted right now with my town. I am also disgusted by the attitude people have about other commentors in the local paper. I guess having a reasonable differing opinion is not allowed. A local newspaper man has taken to comparing it to the Swastika and people are in an uproar. I am just disgusted.
Mahdi Al-Dajjal commented:
The Left, for the most part, abhors history. They bury it. Lie about it. And, rewrite it as much and as often as they can. Then, they teach the rewritten version to the next generation. Barack Obama has buried his OWN history and the Left sees absolutely no problem with that whatsoever.
The reason? Wherever Leftists have arisen to power and assumed control (based on clever slogans like “hope & change”), the economy crashes, gov’t expands exponentially, the treasury gets raided and the spoils distributed, and freedoms are forcibly curtailed in pursuit of a utopian paradise. Once they’ve been forcibly removed by freedom loving people who have stepped up and sacrificed their lives to remove them, the place the Left leaves behind is a shiite-hole that needs to be rebuilt, millions end up murdered and millions more are dead from starvation and disease.
Once rebuilt, the Left comes back out from under their rocks, rewrites history, educates the youth, and slowly achieve power again. Once in power, the whole thing tailspin starts all over again.
Right now, the most radical cabal of Leftists occupy the White House and have 4 seats on the Supreme Court (5 if you count John “Turncoat” Roberts). Barack Obama was the most Leftist Senator in the Senate. Nobody was to the left of him. His own mentors and close associates were extremely radical people, some with very violent personal histories whose only desire was to overthrow the US Gov’t. Barack’s top advisors, from David Axelrod to Valeria Jarrett, have all come up through the ranks of extremely radical communist, marxists, and even stalinist organizations.
In short, the extreme radical Left IS PRESENTLY in power. If history repeats itself, and I have no reason to beleive that it won’t, it’s going to get really ugly before it gets better (mainly, because there isn’t anybody to come to OUR rescue).
Jennifer commented:
I live east of Las Cruces and love the history of our state…and it is what it is. Excellent float!!!
Crazy PC crowd!
Dave-O commented:
Meanwhile, I’m sure the Mexican flag is more than welcome.
Ripped commented:
Looks like Mayor Miyagishima is another LWNJ attempting to either re-write history or display his ignorance on a national level. Why do people elect such incompetent fools?
The Confederate flag does not represent and never has represented racism. It is a symbol of southern heritage, representing freedom, states rights, individual responsibility, and resistance to an out of control federal government.
It may be true that some racists have used the Confederate flag, but racists also wave the American flag. Consider this: No slave ship ever sailed from a Confederate port or under a Confederate flag. On the contrary, virtually every American slave ship was from either New York or one of the New England states and they all sailed under the United States Flag. Also, at the time of the American Civil War, slavery had been practiced in every state and colony in America and was still being practiced in several northern states, under the Stars and Stripes, even during the War Between the States.
Ulysses S. Grant, commanding general of the United States Army during the Civil War was a slave holder. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate Army, was against slavery. The Confederate constitution outlawed the slave trade and Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, proposed a plan to end slavery altogether. There were more free blacks, and also more abolitionists, in the South than in the North. Also, tens of thousands of black soldiers fought for the Confederate States of America in a war which they considered a second American revolution, “War for Southern Independence.”
Unfortunately racist groups have used the Confederate flag in recent years, but those same groups, especially the Ku Klux Klan, have historically used the American flag for a much longer period of time.
The truth is, neither the American Flag nor the Confederate Flag is racist. If people who are racists fly either flag, that does not mean the flag itself represents racism.
If you believe that Lincoln and the civil war were about freeing the slaves you are as misguided as Mayor Miyagishima is about the history of the Confederate flag.
Stonedome commented:
This is what communist subversives do…McCarthy was right, just too early. Who do you think has been skewering him throughout the past five decades? they’re here and embedded in our government…wake up! We have a president who would and will do the same…
Scott commented:
It’s obvious much hard work and effort went into constructing the float. That was recognized by the judges, who voted it Best in Show.
Rather than thanking the volunteers who took pride in their community to help make the parade a success, the mayor instead decides to denounce them and second guess the wisdom of the judges.
What an arrogant elitist ass.
Why people vote for these creeps with totalitarian tendencies is always a mystery to me.
DecentAmerican commented:
The confederate flag simply reminds the racist liberals oh their history of HATE, since it was flown during the time when Democrats fought against the end of slavery. Democrats WANTED to keep slavery, the wanted to keep blacks in chains.
Do you understand that, black-Americans? The racist democratic fathers of the party you hold so dear fought FOR slavery. And you really want to be a democrat, huh?
Sorry, you can’t change your history just because you don’t like it.
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