Here's what Wichita ethics board decided about Mayor Lily Wu & transgender proclamation
The ethics board cleared Wu of other alleged violations, and didn't find sufficient evidence that she asked for her signature line to be removed from the proclamation.
'Sufficient time existed for the Mayor to fulfill her duty as the official head of the city to prepare for and preside at the council meeting. Presiding routinely includes reading proclamations approved by a majority or making preparations for and arranging in advance for someone else to read them,' the ethics board report reads. 'Voting in the minority or not voting at all, as in this case, does not change the role of a mayor to execute the will of the majority.'
Council member Maggie Ballard ultimately read, and signed, the proclamation during the meeting.
The board found that Wu's assistant crossed off her signature line after Wu made her own edits.
Twenty-two ethics complaints were filed against the mayor after she did not read a proclamation recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility at the council's March meeting.
Those complaints alleged a number of violations of the ethics code, including requiring city officials to maintain public confidence, remain impartial and address constituent's needs. She was cleared of all of those allegations.
Wu will not have to pay a fine or attend ethics training as a result of her one violation. The ethics ordinance outlines those possible reprimands for ethics violations.
The mayor is in Paris representing the city at the International Air Show and did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The board approved the report on a 4-1 vote, with the only no vote being the mayor's appointee to the board, Al Higdon, co-founder of the marketing agency Sullivan Higdon & Sink, now Signal Theory.
After the March meeting, Wu called the proclamation a political move by former mayor Brandon Whipple's political team. She also said the proclamation 'segregated' Wichita's transgender community.
The proclamation was requested by Chris Pumpelly early this year through Proud of Wichita: the LGBTQ Chamber. Pumpelly is running for District 1's open seat on the city council; he didn't announce his intent to run until earlier this month.
The mayor has said she has received racist emails as backlash after she did not read the proclamation, with one email using a racial slur for Asian people.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Fox News Host Has Lame Defense For Why Gavin Newsom's Tweets Are Bad, But Trump's Are Not
Fox Newshost Dana Perino attempted to defend her pearl-clutching towardCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom's trend oftrolling tweets on Tuesday's episode of'The Five.' But doing so required her to ignore the reason for the governor's recent mockery of Donald Trump's social media style and insisted Newsom is just being a copycat. Newsom has recently been mocking MAGA by mimicking the president's all-caps online posts, complete with insults and ludicrously narcissistic praise of himself. In the process, Trump lovers like Kid Rock have gotten themselves in a MAGA tizzy over the posts. On Monday, Perino suggested with a straight face that Newsom has 'to stop it with the Twitter thing,' claiming he was 'making a fool' of himself in the process. Many people on social media mocked Perino's complaints about Newsom's posts because many of them are direct copies of previous Trump posts. As a result, she faced accusations of hypocrisy and having a partisan double standard where mean tweets are concerned. Related: Newsom's Press Office responded with an all-caps post that began, 'DANA 'DING DONG' PERINO (NEVER HEARD OF HER UNTIL TODAY!) IS MELTING DOWN BECAUSE OF ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM!' Perino attempted to defend her pearl-clutching by saying, 'We get the joke,' though her excuse required her to be humorless. Related: 'He was reading tweets that were written for him by people that he is heavily investing in to try to help him look more like Trump, I guess,' she said. 'I mean, I thought they hated Trump, but they're trying to be more like him and they have to pay people to do it.' She also insisted that the problem she had with Newsom's posts is that they weren't authentic. She added: 'You're trying to do somebody else who you say is Hitler, and you think that we don't get the joke. Oh, no, we get the joke. It's just not funny.' Perino's co-host, Jesse Watters, also seemed a bit miffed at Newsom for following the lead of the GOP's fearless leader. 'They claim conservatives don't get the joke, we do ― we just think you look like a tool,' he said without irony. Both Perino and Watters' lame defenses of their partisan double standards were mocked by others on social media. Related... Fox News' Dana Perino Called Out For Hypocrisy Over Gavin Newsom Posts Kid Rock Goes Into Meltdown Mode After Getting Punked By Gavin Newsom's X Account Gavin Newsom's Troll Job Of Trump Is Working Incredibly Well Poli Sci Experts Predict What Exactly Gavin Newsom's Mockery Of Trump Could Achieve
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
One candidate drops from Lakeland's race for the Northeast District seat
Lakeland candidate Don Burns has withdrawn his candidacy for Lakeland's District B Northeast seat this November. Burns filed his candidacy forms with Lakeland City Clerk's Office on July 2. His campaign lasted less than 50 days. He is the face behind the "I Am Lakeland" video podcast, in which he interviews local entrepreneurs and residents about what is happening in the city. The city clerk's office confirmed Burns officially withdrew on Aug. 19, and his name will not be appearing on the ballot. "After I filled out the paperwork, I discussed things more with my wife and kids," Burns told The Ledger. "It's my kids' last two years of college. I'm still young, 56, and in two years I think I could be more qualified." In his first interview with The Ledger, Burns said he had originally intended to run for the Northeast District seat in 2028, when Commissioner Bill Read's term was scheduled to end. Read announced June 23 that he intends to step down as a city commissioner at the end of the year, effective Dec. 21, 2025 ― two years into his third term representing the city's Northeast District. This leaves Terry Coney, recent president of Lakeland's NAACP banch, as the sole candidate for the city's District B on Nov. 4 Election information Lakeland will have five seats up for grabs this coming November: Mayor At-Large At-Large Seat 1 District B Northeast District C Southwest District D Southeast To be eligible, individuals must: live within the city limits and the district, if applicable, for a year prior to running for office; be a registered voter and never have committed a felony. The city's elections are nonpartisan and candidates do not formally declare a party affiliation and may not take contributions from political parties. As of Aug. 20, there is one candidate for the city's District B Northeast seat after Burns' withdrawal and no one has filed to run At-Large Seat 2, currently held by Commissioner Stephanie Madden. Lakeland's qualifying week starts Sept. 15, with all paperwork being due to the City Clerk's Office by noon on Sept. 19. More information can be found on the city's website at This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Don Burns ends his campaign for Bill Read's open NE District seat Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘Nothing Scary' About Crypto, Federal Reserve Governor Says
Using cryptocurrencies to facilitate ordinary payments should be no more intimidating than swiping a debit card, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Tuesday. 'There is nothing to be afraid of when thinking about using smart contracts, tokenization, or distributed ledgers in everyday transactions,' he said in a speech at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium in Teton Village, Wyoming. 'This is simply new technology.' Waller described stablecoins as a continuation of advancements in payments, pointing to the early days of physical cards that lacked magnetic strips or chips. Stablecoins have evolved from their original purpose, he acknowledged, but 'have the potential to improve retail and cross-border payments,' while also making it easier to access the U.S. dollar globally. 'As the stablecoin market matured, firms found that the properties of stablecoins using distributed ledger technology—including 24/7 availability, fast transferability, and their freely circulating nature—could be attractive for other use cases as well,' he said. Waller, who was appointed during U.S. President Donald Trump's first term, toldThe Wall Street Journal last month that he would accept a role as Fed Chair if asked. He also dissented from the central bank's decision to hold rates steady in July for a fifth straight meeting, calling for a quarter-percentage-point rate cut alongside governor Michelle Bowman. On Tuesday, Bowman gave her own address at the Wyoming confab, saying 'you don't need a tech background to appreciate the opportunity that blockchain provides to the financial system.' Fed Chair Jerome Powell Says No US CBDC Under His Watch Waller recognized on Wednesday that some have 'been fearful or skeptical of innovation' in the payments space, but he underscored that 'there is nothing scary' about crypto transactions just because they take place within the realm of decentralized finance. The GENIUS Act's passage created a federal framework for stablecoin issuers, and Waller said that this could help dollar-pegged tokens 'reach their full potential' in the U.S. Although his comments were geared toward private-sector innovation, Waller's remarks follow the debut of Wyoming's stablecoin earlier this week. Revenue generated from the token's reserve is expected to go toward the state's school foundation fund. The Fed has played a role in supporting payments technology by providing infrastructure for clearing and settlement to financial institutions. That has been the case since the central bank's early days, Waller noted. As stablecoins become ingrained in the financial world, Waller said the Fed is conducting research on tokenization, smart contracts, and artificial intelligence in payments. Although conservatives have warned against the dangers of a dollar-pegged token issued by the Fed, Waller did not explicitly reference Central Bank Digital Currencies. 'It is important to understand trends in payments technology so that we can continue to support private sector firms that leverage our infrastructures, as well as understand whether emerging technologies could provide opportunities to improve our existing platforms and services,' he said. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
