OpEd: San Bernardino 6th Ward Councilmember Kimberly Calvin Faces Political Hit Piece

By HARDY BROWN, SR.

Hardy Brown Sr. 

“Ms. Calvin is clearly a highly engaged council-member and was able to articulate a vision for her ward that she would address the needs of her community.” 

This quote is taken from the Executive Summary Report released to the public. It goes on to read, “While her passion for her electorate is evident, it appears that her desire to enact positive change would, at times, create an atmosphere that was not conducive to an efficient and collaborative workforce and may have violated city rules.” Remember these two lines from the report as I express my thoughts on this city funded taxpayers’ political hit piece

When I read the article in the Sun Newspaper, with the headline, “Probe: Councilmember broke rules, Calvin reported to have circumvented chain of command, made employees feel uncomfortable.” 

I wondered what this is about since Councilwoman Calvin was not quoted in the article, nor was she at the Closed Session Meeting for or during the discussion. 

I read a quote from the ringleader of this city sanctioned political “HIT-PIECE” on the only Black female councilwoman, by Councilman Ted Sanchez where he said, “The report speaks for itself, and I hope the voters of San Bernardino take this seriously.”

Now Ted made this comment on Thursday morning to his favorite reporter, Beau Yarbrough. This is how The Sun gets its information after a Closed Session Meeting quicker than any other news organization.

My reason for pointing this out is Councilmember Sanchez openly speaks out during council meetings about how he talks to police officers daily on matters that relate to service and how money should be allocated for police officers’ salaries and benefits. It was Sanchez who defeated a suggestion brought to the council by Ward 5 Councilmember Ben Reynoso to put a police substation on the North End of the city. Sanchez said the police officers told him the money could best be spent somewhere else. Sanchez argued with the city attorney that even Reynoso talking about the subject was political.  

Yet, on the San Bernardino Police Officers Association is their glowing endorsement of a Sanchez puppet, Councilmember Juan Figueroa, for getting a police substation in Ward 3. They said the substation is ensuring the safety and well-being of the community. Sanchez did that because Reynoso – who is biracial – is seen by many as Black and speaks up for the 5th Ward just like Kim Calvin does for the 6th Ward. 

This council and San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran, have a bias toward Blacks, especially a Black woman who can articulate her thoughts and ideas with passion as Calvin can do. This is one reason we elected her in Ward 6, because the former councilwoman did not speak up on anything but was a follower of Mayor John Valdivia–a real sexual harasser.

I went online to locate the report and read it and “sho-nuff” it is filled with nothing from an unnamed claimant about Councilwoman Calvin subjecting him to an unfavorable work atmosphere and bypassing the City Manager when requesting information. It does not say what rules were violated.

Remember what I opened with, it was the fourth paragraph that stood out to me in the Executive Summary the city released, where it states, “Ms. Calvin is clearly a highly engaged council-member and was able to articulate a vision for her ward that she would address the needs of her community.” This is what every voter wants their elected representative to do, and they want them to do it with passion. 

If it was a CONFIDENTIAL Report, it would be common courtesy to hold off taking any action until you give the defendant time to respond to these allegations. And when they did the Closed Session, it was confusing when they sent out the agenda of the last meeting. 

Anyway, this isn’t anything but a political stunt brought on by Mayor Tran and her council puppets, trying to remove Kim Calvin from representing the people of her ward. Yet, this is her duty as identified in the Executive Summary of the Investigation’s Report. Kim Calvin or any other articulate intelligent Black female with passion cannot help how some men with an inferiority complex receive them. 

Then you have the daily newspaper behaving like they always behave when it comes to the Black community and some of their elected officials and put this unsubstantiated City Report on the front page but when the Black pastors marched in the rain to protest the sheriff department hiring a white police officer after the murder of Tyisha Miller, a Black teenager in Riverside, they could not come out in the rain to write about it. 

Give me a break, Kim keep on keeping on with your passion and articulate the issues as we see them. 

Hardy Brown is a resident of the 6th Ward and former publisher of the Black Voice News.