The Antelope Valley Times

Your community. Your issues. Your news.

Who will replace Sherry Marquez?

by •

Sherry Marquez replacement

LANCASTER – The Lancaster City Council voted Tuesday to accept the resignation of Council Member Sherry Marquez and declare a vacant council seat.

“It’s not going to be the same without her,” said Mayor R. Rex Parris. “I’m going to miss her.”

The Mayor’s sentiments were not felt by all at the Council Meeting.

“We’re now going to move in the right direction as a city and begin to heal from the damage that she has inflicted on the citizens with the violations of civil rights and her discriminatory behavior,” Lancaster resident David Abber told the council. “It’s time for the rest of the council members to realize that this is something that cannot be tolerated.”

Abber said a special election would be the right thing to do, but if the Mayor chose to appoint someone, then he, Abber, was throwing his hat in the ring to finish out Marquez’s remaining term for free.

Speaker Michael Rives also recommended a procedure for filling the vacancy. He urged the council to have interested parties submit an application to the City Council and then have the parties speak before the council for 3 to 5 minutes.

“This way the public would have some participation in it,” said Rives.

In a passionate speech before the council, Lancaster resident Elizabeth Helm pushed for more diversity in city leadership.

“Sherry Marquez’s resignation provides a great opportunity for the honorable Mayor Parris and the remaining members of the City Council to demonstrate that they can be inclusive rather than exclusive,” said Helm. “This is an opportunity to demonstrate that Lancaster is not the rural backwater of prejudice that it is perceived to be based on the inflammatory statements of a few.”

In considering Marquez’s replacement, Helm said leaders had a moral and ethical obligation to represent the entire population.

“Please consider how the diverse community of Lancaster will be watching how you go about deciding who should replace Sherry Marquez,” Helm said.

“Are you saying no more old fat white guys?” Parris quipped, to laughter from the audience.

Council member Marvin Crist also responded: “Does a female Asian count as a minority?”

Citing a code that states the appointment be made by the mayor with the consent of City Council, Parris said he was willing to consider anyone who was highly qualified for the seat.

“I will consider anybody that the council passes on to me,” he said. “But it will be in two weeks that we make that appointment.”

Parris later provided a hint of what was to come.

“I do have one person in mind and depending on what she says, and also depending on who else is put forward, I’ll make a decision,” he said.

Parris said the final decision on who will replace Sherry Marquez will be made at the next City Council meeting.

22 comments for "Who will replace Sherry Marquez?"

  1. Jo,

    How, exactly, was Linda Jones not qualified to be a viable leader? She holds a nursing degree, a bachelors degree, a masters degree, was a teacher and a school board member…how are any of those things not leadership qualities? Would you care to elaborate? She was not only highly educated, but also an elected board member, so please, please try to explain this away…

    I’ll be patient

    • I said “I” wouldn’t consider them viable leaders. God bless America, I’m allowed to think someone has leadership qualities or not. She may be qualified to be a nurse or a school board member. Or not! Has little to do with whether I believe she is a leader, or that people care to follow her. I’m not a fan. That OK with you? Or do you believe your entitled to an explanation for every point of view that doesn’t match yours?

      Something of an angry little man, aren’t you?

        • Which nonsense is that? That I don’t believe Linda or Darren are leadership material? Or that I believe only those with money can win elections? Or that, per you, only those with masters are smart enough to comment on such things as all white leadership in a valley with minority populations exceeding white populations.

          You seem to think highly of yourself Matt. Why don’t you run? A masters degree appears to be all you think is needed.

          • What it boils down to is that nobody is really good enough for you. A white person isn’t good enough because, in your mind, white people aren’t the majority and don’t deserve to be in politics anymore in the AV (the 2010 U.S. Census lists the total Antelope Valley white population at 51% in both cities and the unincorporated areas) …and, Linda Jones, an educated black woman, isn’t good enough for you either? I guess nobody will be.

          • “white people aren’t the majority and don’t deserve to be in politics anymore”???!!!
            I never said any such thing.

            “Linda Jones, an educated black woman, isn’t good enough for you either?”
            REALLY?

            Lets see, you 1st make it sound like I would support ANY person of color over a white person. Which would appear to be a bad thing by your post.

            But if I don’t support the one black person you obviously support, NO BLACK PERSON WILL BE GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME?

            LOL You’re absolutely right about one thing. I have no argument against such logic. Must be my lack of degrees!

      • Or do you believe your entitled to an explanation for every point of view that doesn’t match yours?

        No, I just think that if you’re going to make statements, then you should be able to back them up!

  2. The population of Palmdale is 56% Hispanic-origin but I don’t see anyone with a Spanish surname on the City Council or on any Planning Commission there, unless I’m mistaken? Is anyone pointing to Palmdale or is this site only for criticising Lancaster?

    • So Matt, are you saying we can’t fight for diversification in Lancaster until it’s fought for in Palmdale? Maybe those of us who live in Lancaster have decided to let Palmdale people fight their own battles. But we hope that Palmdale minority’s fight for representation. If America is going to survive, we need to accept that WE are all we have. And demand that our governing bodies reflect our diversity. There is only one race people. By pretending it’s “us against them” instead of US we’ll never truly be a democracy.

      • You say “there is only one race people”, but then you say that we need “diversification” and “more minorities” …so which is it? Is there “one race” or is there “diversity”? Which? Remember Occam’s Razor (the simplest answer is most likely to be true).

        If we are “one race”, then why does it matter who sits on the council?

        Can’t you see that your logic eats a hole in itself? This is just one of a multitude of flaws in egalitarian thinking.

        Or…just maybe, we vote for someone based upon their qualifications and/or ideas and not what they look like?

        What a freakin’ novel idea!

        • Your right. And from our local to state reps here in the valley, obviously only whites are qualified. Glad we’ve cleared that up.

          • Nobody stopped Linda and Darren from running for state offices, even though they both lost their races? They ran, they lost. The people will vote for who they think best represents them and who they are comfortable with. It’s really simple.

            Let’s look at the 35th Congressional District in Los Angeles. It is majority Latino/Hispanic but the representative remains Maxine Waters. Is that fair to Latinos who live there? No. But guess what, they haven’t been able to put up anyone who can run against Maxine and beat her, so she wins every time.

            …Life isn’t fair. You win some, you lose some. Quit whining!

          • My points of view are whining? And yours are opinions that should be given our full and grateful attention? Got it! Again, glad we’ve cleared that up.

          • At this point those with the most money get elected. Neither Darren nor Linda are people who I would consider leadership material. But they had the money to run. But it’s so much more useful to say “Life’s not fair” then to put in campaign financing reform that would help those who might serve their community’s the best run or win.

            And since it appears that corporations are now allowed to funnel as much money as they want into campaigns, we can expect nothing to change. But we’ll always have people like Matt around to declare life as being unfair, and, I guess, completely OK, because of that little saying.
            Yah America!

    • Are the needs of Hispanics in Palmdale being met as well as those of any other residents? That should be your question.

      • Yes, there needs are being met at the expense of many others. Many are collecting benefits they shouldn’t be getting. They are illegally planted and firmly positioned here. How did this go from Lancaster to Palmdale anyway. I just hope Nancy Smith isn’t put back in office.

    • And yet above you’re saying that whites are 51% of the valley population, but here point out that Palmdale is NOT 51% white. So was the 51% including every town and unincorporated area? Areas that when broken down to different voting districts, aren’t really 51% white, are they?