Eugene City Council meeting cut short after virtual speakers' racist, antisemitic comments

This story was updated at 5:40 p.m. Tuesday

Eugene city councilors ended their meeting early Monday night, after the public forum was hijacked by racist and antisemitic comments from virtual speakers.

City councilors planned to hold a public forum before approving an annex application from a Santa Clara land owner and voting on a proposed low-income housing property tax exemption.

But the meeting was derailed when the second speaker, who testified online and gave his name as Michael Wittman, the same name as a tank commander who fought for Nazi Germany during World War II, gave testimony with expletives directed toward Jewish and Black people and a declaration of "white power," prompting complaints from councilors.

Local governments around the country have faced similar issues recently, including the Charlottesville, Virginia, City Council on Oct. 2; the Beaverton City Council on Oct. 12; and the Lane Council of Governments on Sept. 28.

What happened after the first racist comments were made

The individual who signed up as Wittman completed a two and half minute testimony with his camera off.

Councilor Randy Groves, who acted as mayor for the meeting while mayor Lucy Vinis was absent, sent the meeting into a five minute recess.

Groves condemned the comments when council returned.

"This council does not condone violent comments," he said. "It does not condone comments against individuals or a people. And I would just ask that everybody maintain a sense of decorum and respect in these proceedings."

"Testifying in public forum is not a right. It's a privilege and I just ask that everyone exercise that privilege responsibly," Groves said.

He reorganized the meeting to have people giving in-person testimony go first. This lasted for about half an hour, primarily with a group advocating for the proposed pickleball complex at Lane Community College.

But after in-person testimony concluded, the next online speaker, who identified himself as Lee Shabbos, made racist comments before Groves directed staff to mute him.

Groves ended the meeting early, with 10 remaining people signed up to give online testimony. The other items on the agenda were postponed for Wednesday.

Racist comments also made at Human Rights Commission meeting

Councilor Lyndsie Leech said similar comments were made at the Oct. 17 Eugene Human Rights Commission for which she serves as the council liaison.

"We've had an incident in which unidentified individuals tried to use the Human Rights Commission meeting as a platform for disseminating messages infused with hate, antisemitism and harmful sentiments aimed at our Jewish, immigrant and Black communities," Leech said.

The commission's mission is to "affirm, encourage and initiate programs and services within the city of Eugene and in the community designed to place priority upon protecting, respecting and fulfilling the full range of universal human rights."

This can take many forms, including events put on by the commission such as the annual vigil for people who died while unhoused and an annual event for International Human Rights Day.

Leech told The Register-Guard that three or four people gave virtual hate speech during the commission meeting. The commission couldn't confirm until after public comment that they were allowed to use City Council procedure to end comment early.

Leech said this included someone using the same voice but a different name as the person who called himself Wittman during the City Council meeting.

She said she's "not convinced" these speakers are from Eugene and she supported the decision to reorder comment and end the meeting early.

"Public forum has rights for people of free speech, but we're also not going to tolerate hatred and terrible comments towards anyone in our community," she said.

What the Eugene City Council intends to do

Leech said she's been reaching out to the other Eugene advisory boards to warn them about what happened and tell them they have the authority to end meetings early if public comment gets out of hand.

She said the Human Rights Commission is considering reordering its agenda to put public comment last.

While it has a different set of procedures, Leech said she shared a similar warning to members of the Eugene 4J school board.

"The opportunity for public comment during council meetings has existed for many years. Over the years, there have been instances where the mayor has recessed a meeting during public forum," Caitlin Wallace, spokesperson for the city of Eugene said.

"With the advent of new technologies, we are faced with new challenges. City Council and staff will continue to evaluate meeting processes and procedures to ensure council can continue to conduct its business and receive input from the community."

Alan Torres covers local government for the Register-Guard. He can be reached over email at atorres@registerguard.com or on twitter @alanfryetorres.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Racist, antisemitic comments made at Eugene council meeting