Formal apology sought after U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters was cut off during state convention speech

[trailmonkee]

Source: LA Times

The California Democratic Party African American Caucus is asking the state party for a formal apology to U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters and its members for what it called disrespect by a private subcontractor at its weekend state convention.

Waters, a Los Angeles Democrat known for her comments on President Trump, had been speaking at a caucus meeting during the event Saturday night when the sound to her microphone was cut off.

In a statement released late Wednesday, the Caucus said it had concluded an investigation with the Sacramento City Council and executive staff from the California Democratic Party executive staff to determine what transpired. They found the state party retained the event planning firm Frontrunner to produce the convention, attended by nearly 3,000 people from across the state. Frontrunner subcontracted the audio and visual work to a separate firm that has not been identified.

The caucus said it was an employee of that firm that approached Waters and interrupted her remarks by pulling the plug connecting her microphone to the audio system.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-african-american-caucus-request-formal-1495694792-htmlstory.html

[flibbitygiblets]

1. Don't hold your breath

[iluvtennis]

3. Agree..no apology coming.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. GOP last gasp.

[George II]

4. That's not going to shut up Maxine Waters!!

[Orrex]

5. They won't apologize as long as she remains black, female and a Democrat.

[yurbud]

6. nothing suspicious about one of the more progressive elected officials having her mic cut off

[denbot]

7. WTF!

I guess only third way'ers get a voice in our own party.

[Yonnie3]

8. Reading the full article,

I see that the contracted time for the event was over. Sensitivity training isn't the answer, event planning training would suffice. The contract with the PA folks should have stipulated what would happen if the event ran over.

"and better training on protocols when meetings run longer than the contracted time."

I have been stuck running the PA for events for many unpaid hours, with event coordinators refusing to pay. The worst part is that you may need the equipment and operator to be in another city the next day. Without adequate rest the drive is dangerous.

[dembotoz]

10. if you see an event running on schedule it obviously is not by the democrats

our state convention is in a couple weeks...i tell folks the times listed on the agenda are only wishful thinking

[Yonnie3]

11. Both parties have run overtime on us, we cut them a lot of slack.

Political groups are bad at paying too. We do both parties, we're not like a RWNJ baker. We refuse to do hate groups and have only once been asked. We've had the power cut off numerous times by the venue when the event has run over. I would be unhappy to be told that I needed sensitivity training when this happened.

[spooky3]

12. I agree. We don't want to be as guilty as RWers

About exploiting workers by exceeding the agreed upon work hours, with no overtime pay.

Maybe the contracts should specify about overtime pay rate if the event goes over, so that the planner has a strong incentive to control the time.

[trailmonkee]

15. Can't imagine equal treatment if the event was populated by white haired billionaires...

...If that were the case I think the gentleman from the events group would have done the respectful thing and moved this up the ladder to the key organizing contact who could have then approached Maxine regarding the overage. However, I think he couldn't pass up the opportunity to shut-up a powerful woman who was speaking the truth... I think this kind of behavior, sadly, is on an uptick since the election...

[Yonnie3]

16. Can't imagine ...

You attribute motives to someone you don't know. Imagining motivations is easy, but it is a difficult thing to do and get them right. You can't know if the organizer was contacted, and if so what was said.

The article states, "and better training on protocols when meetings run longer than the contracted time." Since the organizer was unable to organize the event so that this wouldn't happen, the the organizer owes a big apology.

[aeromanKC]

9. The Red Hat'er contract worker had to get back home to beat his wife

These people are Mentally Ill. Severe case of Derangement Syndrome. America needs an Intervention for Red Hat'ers!!

[Initech]

13. What is wrong with this country?

Our representatives are literally getting played off like they're giving a speech at the Oscar Awards.

[haele]

14. Frontrunner wasn't doing a very good job of managing the event.

This isn't a coffee-shop DJ gig. This was a major event.
Whenever I've had to handle A/V at an event, I'd make sure I made a 5-minute/2-minute/1-minute/15-second warning that the speaker or performer needed to wrap it up in a polite manner. My father taught me that back in high school.
I'd also make sure the last speaker or performer knew I had a hard deadline, both at the start of the event and right before they got up to go on stage, so that they could edit their performance accordingly, so I wouldn't have to pull the plug.

And that was as a lowly volunteer or minimally paid worker. I used to like getting called back to manage the A/V at events.

Haele