Modesto-based Latino group calls for Ted Howze to end campaign over social media posts
The Latino Community Roundtable is calling for Ted Howze to end his campaign for California’s 10th Congressional District over inflammatory comments on his social media accounts, denigrating Latinos, Muslims, the Black Lives Matter movement and others.
The roundtable issued a news release last week calling for Howze to leave the race and for the local officials who endorsed him to rescind their support and to denounce the hateful statements. The roundtable works to improve the political, social and economic well-being of Stanislaus County Latinos.
“As leaders in our community, we strongly condemn hate speech that degrades Latinos or any other identity group, and we expect the elected officials who represent us to do the same,” states the news release. “The derogatory statements made by Mr. Ted Howze on his social media pages over a period of several years are deeply disturbing and do not reflect the values and diversity of the district that he seeks to represent.”
The local leaders who have endorsed Howze include Modesto Mayor Ted Brandvold and Turlock Mayor Amy Bublak, who lead Stanislaus County’s biggest and second biggest cities. Brandvold and Bublak did not respond to several requests for comment for this story.
The roundtable release states Latinos and Hispanics make up about half of the county’s population and, according to the 2010 Census, more than 20 percent of the county’s residents were born outside of the United States.
Howze not responding to requests for comment
Howze has not responded to several requests in recent weeks to speak with The Bee. His campaign has said the comments were not made by Howze but by people he knew and who had access to his social media. The campaign has declined to say who those people were.
But a recent statement from his campaign said: “Dr. Howze was on record two weeks ago apologizing to anyone who might be offended by the posts placed on his social media. He took full responsibility for not monitoring those pages and those with access several years ago, and is exploring legal action. The sentiments in question obviously do not reflect the thoughts or actions of a dedicated community leader who has worked with the diverse communities for decades.”
LCR Board of Directors President Aaron Anguiano said it is not credible that others made those comments. The comments are interspersed among commonplace ones about family life, vacations, celebrations and similar matters.
The roundtable joins others who have criticized Howze’s social media. That includes the Modesto-Stanislaus branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which requested May 23 that Howze drop out of the election.
The Facebook posts, tweets and retweets are from 2016 through March 2018 and include asking whether Muslims can ever be good American citizens, that the parents of the Dreamers — the immigrants who came here as children — are criminals and should be sent back to Mexico, and comparing the Dreamers to pedophiles.
One post said this about Black Lives Matter: “As a culture 95% percent of you vote in lock step for the same political party who held you as physical slaves and now wish to keep you as political slaves unable to effect any real change for the better.”
The website Politico broke the first story about Howze’s social media in early May and followed it with another story about a couple of weeks later when more social media posts came out.
Howze, 53, is a large-animal veterinarian and former Turlock councilman. The Republican is challenging U.S. Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, in the November election to represent Stanislaus and southern San Joaquin counties in Congress.
Howze’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story but sent an email Wednesday listing the Republican groups that support Howze: the Stanislaus County Republican Party, California Impact Republicans, Modesto Republican Women Federated and California College Republicans.
Where do Modesto, Turlock mayors stand?
Brandvold and Bublak were among the local officials who had endorsed Howze before the social media posts came to light. Bublak declined to comment in early May, saying she was not aware of the controversy and was focusing her attention on the new coronavirus pandemic. She has not responded to requests for comment since then.
Brandvold said in a May 22 Bee story that he planned to continue to endorse Howze, stating he was taking Howze’s word that he was not responsible for the comments. He did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
Former Modesto Councilwoman Janice Keating also said in the May 22 story that she continued to support Howze. Keating, who is running for the City Council, did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
But other local officials, including Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow, have pulled their endorsements. And the National Republican Congressional Committee, the California Republican Party and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, have withdrawn their endorsements.
Modesto Councilman Bill Zoslocki, who is running for the county Board of Supervisors in the November election, told The Bee about two weeks ago that he no longer endorsed Howze.
Zoslocki and Brandvold were the only Modesto City Council members to endorse Howze.
LCR Board President Anguiano said he and nine of the LCR’s 10 other board members support Howze ending his campaign and for officials to rescind their endorsements. Anguiano said board member and Modesto Councilman Tony Madrigal was the only board member not to respond to Anguiano’s email on this matter.
Madrigal did not respond to several requests for comment from The Bee.
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 10:57 AM.
