Hispanics, Matney in tiff over radio show comments
By Michele Linck, Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, September 07, 2006
DAKOTA CITY -- A week after Dakota County Edward Matney was heard on KSCJ radio's morning talk show "Open Line" discussing his plan to form a county task force to tackle the problems of gangs, graffiti and drugs, which he said increase with illegal immigrant populations, he had an issue of his own.
Seven people, most of them leaders in the local Hispanic business community and all of them U.S. citizens or possessing permanent resident status, were outside Matney's office demanding to see him as a group. They included Norma DeLaO, Tony Gomez, Adriana Dungan, Lupita Lopez, Sonia Villalpando, Abril Garcia, all of Dakota County, and Teresa Wolff of Woodbury County.
DeLaO of South Sioux City said she had set up individual appointments for several of them with Matney's office, but the group then decided they wanted to meet with him together.
Matney, speaking through Chief Deputy County Attorney Deb Fergen, repeatedly declined to see them as a group, but continued to offer DeLaO her 10 a.m. slot. She declined and the group left the courthouse.
"We decided he was not going to dictate to us how we were gonna meet," she said. "This is a public office."
In his letter Tuesday confirming the individual appointments, Matney also wrote, "As we discussed, each person will need to bring a form of State of Nebraska identification bearing a photograph and current address..."
DeLaO said Matney had met with all the same people as a group 18 months ago to tell them his office wanted to be more open to the Latino community and didn't ask for any photo i.d. She said she felt "very offended" by that requirement Wednesday.
'Angry and scared'
Gomez, a Jackson, Neb., businessman, said, "We just want to know what is going on. Maybe he has something good for the community. We just want to visit with him and see his plans. We're willing to talk to him if he gives us the opportunity." He suggested the group get on the agenda of the Dakota County Commission.
DeLaO said Matney's comments to "Open Line" host Randy Renshaw made her "angry and scared all at once."
She said Matney used "illegal" and "Mexican" interchangeably and defended it on the air "given the demographics," after Dungan called in to protest. (More than 95 percent of the county's immigrants are from Mexico, but DeLaO said there are also illegal Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Somalians in the county.)
She said that when asked on-air if there should be some Latinos on the task force, Matney replied that they probably wouldn't want to be on it because they "tend to be militant and tend to take the side of illegal immigrants.
"We know there's an immigration problem," she said. "We're not stupid. We know you break the law when you cross (the border). The thing that makes me angry and scared is, he makes those kinds of comments and he's gonna create anger among the community. Who's to say who's illegal and legal? You can't tell just by looking at someone. How are you gonna tell by a 'government issued i.d., which a driver's license is, that I'm legal? Or not?"
Matney sent out a statement Wednesday detailing the scheduled appointment plans, but did not return two phone calls and one in-person request made at his office to have questions answered.: He did not respond immediately to after-hours e-mailed questions.
'Not at all.'
Renshaw said the station doesn't keep recordings of the two-hour program because of computer storage limitations. He played for the Journal four clips from the show that he used in subsequent news reports, none of which included the statements cited by DeLaO.
Asked Wednesday if he felt uncomfortable about racial issues in any of Matney's comments, Renshaw said, "Not at all."
He said Matney called him requesting to be on the show. "I agreed because it sounded like news," Renshaw said. "I don't know of any county attorney around that's wanted to respond to illegal immigration, undocumented workers, drugs, gangs, that kind of thing, on the local level.
"He didn't have a plan," he said. "He just wanted to get feedback from the community at large. That's how I perceive the time he spent on "Open Line."
Renshaw said the only feedback he received later on the program came from DeLaO, who wanted a copy of it, and from one television reporter.
In his written statement Wednesday, Matney said he remains interested in hearing from Dakota County and area residents on the subject if illegal immigration and its impact on the county's criminal justice system.
Seven people, most of them leaders in the local Hispanic business community and all of them U.S. citizens or possessing permanent resident status, were outside Matney's office demanding to see him as a group. They included Norma DeLaO, Tony Gomez, Adriana Dungan, Lupita Lopez, Sonia Villalpando, Abril Garcia, all of Dakota County, and Teresa Wolff of Woodbury County.
DeLaO of South Sioux City said she had set up individual appointments for several of them with Matney's office, but the group then decided they wanted to meet with him together.
Matney, speaking through Chief Deputy County Attorney Deb Fergen, repeatedly declined to see them as a group, but continued to offer DeLaO her 10 a.m. slot. She declined and the group left the courthouse.
"We decided he was not going to dictate to us how we were gonna meet," she said. "This is a public office."
In his letter Tuesday confirming the individual appointments, Matney also wrote, "As we discussed, each person will need to bring a form of State of Nebraska identification bearing a photograph and current address..."
DeLaO said Matney had met with all the same people as a group 18 months ago to tell them his office wanted to be more open to the Latino community and didn't ask for any photo i.d. She said she felt "very offended" by that requirement Wednesday.
'Angry and scared'
Gomez, a Jackson, Neb., businessman, said, "We just want to know what is going on. Maybe he has something good for the community. We just want to visit with him and see his plans. We're willing to talk to him if he gives us the opportunity." He suggested the group get on the agenda of the Dakota County Commission.
DeLaO said Matney's comments to "Open Line" host Randy Renshaw made her "angry and scared all at once."
She said Matney used "illegal" and "Mexican" interchangeably and defended it on the air "given the demographics," after Dungan called in to protest. (More than 95 percent of the county's immigrants are from Mexico, but DeLaO said there are also illegal Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Somalians in the county.)
She said that when asked on-air if there should be some Latinos on the task force, Matney replied that they probably wouldn't want to be on it because they "tend to be militant and tend to take the side of illegal immigrants.
"We know there's an immigration problem," she said. "We're not stupid. We know you break the law when you cross (the border). The thing that makes me angry and scared is, he makes those kinds of comments and he's gonna create anger among the community. Who's to say who's illegal and legal? You can't tell just by looking at someone. How are you gonna tell by a 'government issued i.d., which a driver's license is, that I'm legal? Or not?"
Matney sent out a statement Wednesday detailing the scheduled appointment plans, but did not return two phone calls and one in-person request made at his office to have questions answered.: He did not respond immediately to after-hours e-mailed questions.
'Not at all.'
Renshaw said the station doesn't keep recordings of the two-hour program because of computer storage limitations. He played for the Journal four clips from the show that he used in subsequent news reports, none of which included the statements cited by DeLaO.
Asked Wednesday if he felt uncomfortable about racial issues in any of Matney's comments, Renshaw said, "Not at all."
He said Matney called him requesting to be on the show. "I agreed because it sounded like news," Renshaw said. "I don't know of any county attorney around that's wanted to respond to illegal immigration, undocumented workers, drugs, gangs, that kind of thing, on the local level.
"He didn't have a plan," he said. "He just wanted to get feedback from the community at large. That's how I perceive the time he spent on "Open Line."
Renshaw said the only feedback he received later on the program came from DeLaO, who wanted a copy of it, and from one television reporter.
In his written statement Wednesday, Matney said he remains interested in hearing from Dakota County and area residents on the subject if illegal immigration and its impact on the county's criminal justice system.
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