We, as a city, need to respect a democratic vote. Recently, Holyoke voters elected Israel Rivera as an at-large city councilor and Jenny Rivera as a Ward 1 city councilor on the Holyoke City Council. Yet, before they have a chance to represent the city that elected them, some people are attempting to remove them from the council. Such an anti-democratic power-grab is something all Holyokers should speak out against.
A city ordinance, which was passed in 2017, prohibits people from holding a city job and a City Council position, meaning a city councilor could challenge the qualifications of Israel and Jenny, both of whom work for the Holyoke School Department.
Along with re-elected Ward 5 Councilor Linda Vacon (who won her seat by only 17 votes), that person seems to be newly elected At-Large Councilor Kevin Jourdain, who formerly served as council president. While current City Council President Todd McGee is seeking to amend the ordinance to permit Israel and Jenny to serve, allowing the council to become more open and diverse–which is what Holyoke voters voted for–Vacon and Jourdain seem to want to override the vote, remove Israel and Jenny from the elected positions, and limit representation.
In a recent Daily Hampshire Gazette article entitled “Ordinance raises questions about election of two school employees to Holyoke City Council” (11/19/2021), Jourdain says, “It’s an act of public corruption that should be given leave to withdraw. I loathe the day that the City Council would ever allow one of its members to serve as a city employee.” Then he goes on to claim that such allowance could lead to “bribery.”
Jourdain’s obstructionism comes at a time when we are on the verge of having the most diverse City Council in the history of Holyoke. As reported in the same Gazette article, only twice before in the city’s history have we had two Latino candidates elected to an at-large seat: Israel Rivera, who received the second most votes in the city, and Jose Luis Maldonado Velez.
And yet, instead of working to make sure the democratic process has its way, certain councilors and councilors-elect are using the ordinance as a tool to grab power away from two Hispanics who won a fair election; they are seeking to slow down our progress towards having more diverse representation.
We, as a community, need to look squarely at such people who are trying to circumvent a democratic vote. We need to keep attention on them and call them out, telling them that we will support democracy over their need to hold onto power.
Both Israel Rivera and Jenny Rivera have said they intend to forgo their $10,000 City Council stipend, which is all that is required under the state’s ethics law. While Jourdain is decrying “public corruption,” Israel and Jenny are being open about their willingness not to take two salaries; they simply want to represent Holyoke citizens who voted them into office.
I think we need to acknowledge Israel Rivera’s comment in the Gazette article where he said the move to push himself and Jenny out of City Council Chambers feels like the defense of “some kind of caste-system.” He is correct.
Historically, white Holyokers have held power in all aspects of city government. They have made decisions that benefit their communities and often damage or neglect the needs of the Latino community. In a very real sense, they have kept the Latino community disempowered and voiceless.
This racial caste system is something that many white and Latino residents want to change. This recent vote was a step in correcting this long-standing injustice and now we are seeing some city councilors attempt to stop this progress by barring two Hispanics from the City Council.
We need to be better than this, Holyoke. We need to empower all our residents. We need to make sure we have a diversity of voices in the City Council. To do this, we need to support McGee’s attempt to amend the ordinance and allow these two Hispanic Holyokers to do the job we elected them to do.
Patrick O’Connor lives in Holyoke.