Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller did not attend today's Board of Supervisors meeting, where a large number of people spoke about her recent Facebook post about being proud to be white.
About 30 people signed up to take part in the regular call to the audience. Several speakers said they were disappointed Miller was not there. There was heckling from both supporters and opponents of Miller at the meeting.
Meanwhile, Miller late last week made a massive public records request to the county seeking documents related to the controversial post she made hours after the rioting in Charlottesville.
Hours after violence at a white nationalist rally rocked the Virginia city, Miller posted from her personal Facebook account that she is “sick and tired of being hit for being white.”
“It is all about making us feel like we need to apologize. I am WHITE — and proud of it! No apologies necessary,” she wrote.
Miller was responding to a Politico article shared by former Tucson mayoral candidate Shaun McClusky that detailed President Trump’s response to the violence.
Miller is now demanding that Pima County officials release electronic conversations and comments related her Facebook post.
Miller’s public records request that was filed Friday afternoon seeks "any and all copies of verbal and written communications, including but not limited to emails, social media accounts, phone calls and letters from anyone; including members of the public, all county employees, County administrator, any and all elected officials, communications department employees, County attorney office employees, as well as each and every one of the Board of supervisors members related to the request for the opinion you just issued regarding my comments on a Facebook post."
Miller’s request covers communications between July 1 and August 18, some six weeks before she posted the comment on Facebook.
While the County has not formally responded to the request, Miller's call for records would ask county officials to search more than 7,000 county employees phones, computers, and social media accounts.
Miller has not responded to repeated requests from the Star to discuss her post. She skipped today's Supervisors meeting.
However, last week on the James T. Harris radio show on 104.1 KQTH Miller said her post was meant to criticize “the simple-minded identity politics that defines us based on nothing more than the color of our skin. And I was expressing my frustration with the identity politics. And I think the American people are rejecting those politics, and I certainly will not be ashamed for the color of my skin.”
She agreed with Harris that the reaction to her comments was an example of “gotcha politics,” and added later: “I hope everyone is proud of their race.”
