Election Nuttiness:
Fueled By 'Outrage Porn', Emeryville's Mayor Says Green Party's Typo Was Done On Purpose
Mayor Claims Victim Status Regardless of Apology
She Made the Same Error Herself in 2021, But Her Error
Was Just "A Simple Mistake" She Says
Emeryville’s mayor is crying foul over a typographical error made by the Green Party in their voter guide that she says was purposeful and meant to demean her and she is refusing to accept an official retraction for the error offered by the Greens. Instead, she is repeating the slight all over social media despite the fact that she made the same mistake in her official candidate’s statement run up for her 2021 City Council run.
The Green Party error came in their Green Voter Guide that left out the word ‘non-incumbents’ in a block of text. So the original stated, “Council member Priforce’s slate of two, the only African Americans running for council, are Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty.” As corrected, it was changed to “Council member Priforce’s slate of two, the only African Americans non-incumbents running for council, are Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty" (our italics).
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| Mayor Welch says she's Black and the Green Party is trying to take that away from her. It's so unfair! But it's exactly like how she tried to take away Brynnda Collins' Blackness in 2021. Brynnda has been Black since her birth but Courtney just ain't seein' it. |
But in 2021, Council member Welch was on the other side of the same error, an error SHE made. In her official Alameda County Candidate Statement from 2021, candidate Welch stated she is “…the first Black woman in 34 years to seek a seat on the Council.” In fact, a Black woman, Brynnda Collins, sought a seat on the City Council in 2016. After her statement was shown to be factually incorrect, the statement Ms Welch submitted to the County Registrar under oath as being factual, Ms Welch was forced to file voluminous legal paperwork with the County, correcting the mistake.
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| Candidate Welch admitted she made a mistake with her false claims in 2021. She admitted it only when Alameda County forced her to correct the error. |
At the time, the Tattler didn’t report on the story because we took Ms Welch at her word it was a simple mistake. However, after she won the 2021 election, Council member Welch has been shown to be a petulant vulgarian, quick to lay accusations on and name call her constituents who disagree with her policies and her dissenting City Council colleague, Kalimah Priforce.
Not satisfied with the Green Party’s apology and retraction of the typo, Mayor Welch has continued to bring up the issue on social media, claiming without evidence, the first version of the voter guide was not a mistake. She is not mentioning to her followers that the Green Party has corrected the error.
What Mayor Welch is claiming is that the Green Party of Alameda County, by their typo, they're trying to take away her 'Blackness', the same thing, exactly, that candidate Welch did in 2021 to Brynnda Collins with the typo in her Candidate Statement when she tried to take away Ms Collin's 'Blackness'.
Perhaps sensing further political gain that could be made, Mayor Welch, who is Vice President of the organization Black Elected Officials of California (BEOC), released a public letter of condemnation against the Green Party of Alameda County stating the typographical error by the Greens had “deliberately misled” the people and they had therefore “undermined the democratic process". Further, BEOC claimed, without providing evidence, “We are especially troubled by what appears to be a pattern of targeted disinformation against people of color and women.” However, BEOC refused to provide any examples that would bolster their claim of such a pattern created by the Green Party, a political party that has anti-racism and anti-sexism among its Ten Core Values. Finishing up their letter, BEOC demanded another public apology from the Greens.
However, the Greens were having none of that. After calling the hyperbole from Mayor Welch a "political tactic", Green Party County Council member Greg Jan wrote a responce to the BEOC that explained they had already publicly apologized for the typo error and made the correction in their Voter Guide the same day they were alerted to it. Mr Jan's letter shamed the Mayor and even connected Council member John Bauters into the Welch fabricated imbroglio, stating: “We do ask that Courtney Welch refrain from using her position as Vice-President of your body from further bullying the Green Party of Alameda County and our electorate with baseless attacks just as she and John Bauters have done with their elected positions against their council member colleagues.”
Seemingly incapable of shame, Mayor Welch has continued on with her attacks on the Green Party, inferring bad faith in their motives, prompting a response from Mr Jan who told the Tattler yesterday, “This Mayor doesn’t seem to want to accept our apology we publicly announced for the typographical error (in our Green Party Voter Guide). It’s strange since the Mayor herself made the same error in her Candidate’s Statement last time when she ran for Council. We apologized for the typo and we’re moving on. We think the Mayor should too.”
Mayor Welch did not answer our requests for comment.
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| Outrage porn (also called outrage discourse, outrage media and outrage journalism) is any type of media or narrative designed to use outrage to provoke strong emotional reactions for the purpose of expanding audiences or increasing engagement. |
