Gay Latinx San Leandro councilmember alleged mayor discriminated against him; investigation found no evidence
Unincorporated Alameda County to begin splitting up $14M in federal Covid-19 relief funds
San Leandro city officials launched an independent investigation last fall after San Leandro Councilmember Victor Aguilar, Jr. alleged Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter discriminated against him because he is gay Latinx. The investigation found no evidence of discrimination by Cutter and cost the city a reported $10,000 to conduct.
The three-page assessment, dated Jan. 14, and written by Berkeley attorney Christopher Boucher details what appears to be a simple misunderstanding over participation on a steering committee for San Leandro’s 150th Anniversary celebration this year.
Last Sept. 24, an email by the city’s communications and community relations manager was sent to the city council asking for two council members to sit on the event’s steering committee. But a caveat was included in the statement. Councilmembers up for re-election in 2022 would be excluded.
Aguilar, who is the only councilmember up for re-election in November 2022, was upset by the email, calling it “total BS” in a message to Cutter on Sept. 28. The same day, Aguilar wrote a lengthy rant about the city’s email on Facebook. “All I could think was ‘Is this language targeted?’ I sure think so!” Aguilar wrote another email on Sept. 29, this time to San Leandro’s city manager, city attorney, and the entire council.
“I feel like the grounds for Item 1 were explicit and targeted in exclusion. San Leandro has had a racist history. Racism exists. Discrimination exists. I feel like the undertone is targeted as discriminatory. As the first openly-gay Latinx vice mayor I am extremely disheartened, disgusted, and profoundly torn that our ‘mayor’ would bring up such a suggestion. I feel totally hurt and disenfranchised!” Aguilar wrote.
“I also feel like this is not an ‘idiotic error’ rather an error to discriminate against the councilmember running for re-election. Pauline [Cutter] is a smart person. I would have never expected this from her, especially as I sit and support her as vice mayor. What a callow decision. We’re better than this. I’m not one to posture, but to make change.”
The investigation found the decision to exclude councilmembers running for re-election came from the steering committee’s consultant and for two main reasons. Doing so would avoid politicizing the 150th anniversary events and keep the steering committee’s meetings from being subject to the Brown Act, the state law that maintains transparency in local government. The term “re-election” was also unintentionally copied and pasted by the communications director from his notes to the Sept. 24 council email, the investigation also found.
Aguilar told the investigator that he perceived an “undertone” of discrimination from Cutter towards him on several other occasions. However, the investigator added Aguilar failed to “offer any substantive discussion or evidence that Cutter had engaged in any conduct involving anyone’s race or sexual orientation, but rather, Aguilar perceived certain events to carry an ‘undertone’ which he deemed ‘implicit bias.’”
Cutter is San Leandro’s longest-serving elected official. She has held office since 1998 as a school board member, council member, and mayor for the past seven years. But in recent months she has struck a wearied tone as the San Leandro City Council has devolved into warring factions.
In an interview, Cutter said Aguilar’s actions were hurtful to her. “He’s worked with me for four years. He should have known better.” Cutter believes the lack of comity is due to the pandemic and the lack of personal contact between councilmembers. “It’s become okay to be so divided and okay to make personal attacks toward each other,” she added. “I wish there was more in my power to bring this council together.”
It’s not the first time Aguilar has publicly disparaged Cutter. During a council meeting in 2019, Aguilar labelled as “white privilege” Cutter’s vote in favor of a controversial housing project in San Leandro. In addition, a contemptuous response last month by Aguilar and another councilmember involving the selection of a vice mayor, elicited clear exasperation from Cutter.
Since Aguilar’s election in 2018, his political worldview has often flowed through past personal grievances involving coming out a gay man. In public remarks, Aguilar often references his parents’ inability to accept his sexuality as a young adult.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to East Bay Insiders Newsletter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.