Who I Speak For and Who I Represent

Who I Speak For
and
Who I Represent

Lately I have been under attack by the Barwest Kool-aid Club who have been using the lies generated by Barwest Liar-in-Chief Tom Shields that I am a paid political hack for "the other side". They have been using this smear campaign to silence me along with putting pressure on me from Dale supporters who think I should not talk about local corruption at the Council Meetings, due to my position as the President of the local Democratic Club.

In the past, they have been successful in silencing some local gadflys through their employment. Since I am self employed as a consultant, it is more difficult for them to use that leverage. So I wanted to set the record straight and do so at the Council Meeting during the Public Comment segment of the Agenda. I prefer to speak from the heart and not off of pre-written statement. However, when you are limited to three minutes and you have lots of stuff to say, I didn't want to leave it to chance. So here is what I wrote and spoke at the September 17 Council Meeting.

Public Comment
by
Larry D. Halstead

"I want to begin my comments with some much needed clarification as to who I speak for, and who I represent when I speak at this podium. Put simply, I speak only for myself, not the local Democrat Club, or any other person or organizations of any kind. All of my comments are my opinions and mine alone.

From early on, I have made a pattern and practice of speaking out on issues for which I have strong convictions including: the environment, civil rights, human rights, and now Ancestral Rights. In doing so, I have a track record of taking strong views against government corruption, corporate wrong doing, influence peddling, and tyranny at all levels. As such I am a strong supporter of public participation and citizen oversight.

I make these clarifications because in the efforts to silence me those with special interests have attempted to use my positions with civic organizations against me. This tactic will NEVER succeed. For me, speaking out is way more important than any positions I may hold.

To those who are offended by my comments and my accusations of local corruption, I make no apologies and offer only this warning: You are guaranteed to be even more offended by my comments here tonight and from this point forth. To those that would defend local corruption and attack my constitutional rights, I can only say that I have no concern for your opinions or the venom of your letters to the editor. My comments are not meant for your ears and I have no fantasy about winning you over to my point of view.

To those concerned citizens that care about government accountability and local democracy, I have yet another clarification directed to your ears only. You should know the truth of my passion for Ancestral Rights which I will share with you during the casino update.

For now, I want to address the vicious self serving lies about me being generated by Barwest Liar-in-Chief Tom Shields, and perpetuated by school board member Julie Clemmer, along with Los Coyotes representatives Shane Shapparosa and Tina Johnson. None of those lies have any basis in fact whatsoever.

For the record, I do not represent ANY Native American tribes or any gaming interest of any kind, not now, not ever and I have never been paid a single penny to represent them nor have I received any input from them.

To the San Manuel Tribe, I want to publicly apologize that you were dragged into this local battle that you never wanted any part of anyway. You made the one time contribution to my campaign after I solicited your assistance in fighting for Ancestral Rights locally, to offset the hundreds of thousands of dollars Barwest has spent in effecting the outcome of our elections and to control policy here in Barstow.

With these clarification out of the way, it is now time to speak some real truth!"