Official Assailed Over Simpson Case Letter

A letter by City Councilman Eddie Rose about the O.J. Simpson verdict that was described by critics as a racist diatribe has prompted city officials to consider a formal censure.

Written on city stationery carrying the names of all the council members and sent to several newspapers, the letter says the Simpson jury “chose to ignore the overwhelming evidence in the case in order to let a ‘brother’ go free.’ ” The letter calls jurors biased incompetents and says the panel was “racially stacked.” It praises the professionalism of the prosecutors, but says their logic “was no match for the slick, jive-talking rhetoric of [Simpson defense attorney] Johnnie Cochran”.

While Rose, 57, defended the letter, it drew outrage from some leaders in the African American community and from city officials, who said it was littered with racist buzzwords.

The letter “reeked of hatred,” Mayor Mark Goodman said. “We’ve been dragged into something that’s hard to dignify.”

City officials are considering calling a special Oct. 30 meeting to discuss censuring Rose. Goodman said City Atty. Terry Dixon is researching whether the city can legally censure him for a letter that, so far, has not been printed by any newspaper.

Ron Coley, leader of the 100 Black Men of Orange County, said he is “both shocked and disappointed that a public official would use his public position in a way that has the implications expressed by that statement.”

A similar controversy occurred in January when Rose cast the only vote against a city resolution honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Rose said King had “done a lot of good” but had a “dubious background” and often surrounded himself with Communists.

Rose on Friday rejected any notion that the letter is racist.

“I don’t know of any reference to race in that letter,” he said. He added, “I’m not politically correct, that’s for sure. Rush Limbaugh and I don’t worry much about being politically correct.”

Rose said he thinks “racism is evil.”

“I’m very bitter about [the Simpson verdict] but that doesn’t make me racist by any means,” he said.

He added, “I don’t think racism, as bad as it is, is as bad as butchering two people and then going out on the golf course and having a good time.”

Rose called the talk of censure by Goodman, a longtime political opponent, part of a personal vendetta by the mayor. As far as the use of city stationery is concerned, Rose said, “I don’t know of any city ordinance that prohibits that.”

One of the most controversial parts of the two-page letter criticizes “elitist media” whose followers “idolize these semiliterate athletes who, were it not for their prowess in running a football or dunking a basketball, would probably be out pimping or dealing drugs on some street corner.”

Although Rose maintains he didn’t have African Americans in mind when he wrote about “semiliterate athletes,” the councilman conceded that “I could see where someone could perceive that.”

Critics say Rose’s letter is full of comments that indirectly refer to racial stereotypes.

The letter, for example, touches on whether the trial should have been held in Downtown Los Angeles or Santa Monica.

In Santa Monica, Rose wrote, “jurors could have been selected who were willing to listen and able to understand the evidence. For no matter how powerful and how compelling the evidence, it is to no avail when presented to a jury too ignorant to comprehend it.”