Tag: Ron Nirenberg

The San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association wants you to distrust, resent and despise your city government. That’s not how Chris Steele would put it, of course. At a press conference this week, moments before delivering petitions to City Hall that call for monumental amendments to the city charter, the fire union president sought to portray those demanding change as “regular people.” The changes would cap a future city manager’s salary at no more than 10 times that of the lowest-paid city employee; make it easier to take city ordinances to a public vote; and prohibit the city from going to court over labor agreements. “It seems like the mayor wants to characterize this as a union issue,” Steele said at the news conference. “So these groups are going to talk to you and tell you why it’s a people issue.” Behind Steele stood Antonio Diaz, a failed candidate for mayor who earned less than one percent of the vote last year. In a previous interview with the San Antonio Express-News, Diaz spoke about his “hatred toward the government.” “I’ve basically struggled with the city politics for about 15 years just to get a declaration of a date recognizing indigenous people,” he said. “Was more filled with hatred toward the government because of my oppressed condition. But I’ve learned … you can only meet force if you address it with force.” To Diaz’s left stood perennial council gadfly Jack Finger, hoisting a sign that read, “Take That, City Council!” In his regular tirades against city government, Finger has dealt in explicit racism and homophobia — once expressing outrage that the city spent tax dollars in support of a Latino-centric event, for instance. In recent elections, as the fire union has refused even to negotiate that contract, Steele has sought leverage in the composition of city council, endorsing candidates presumably friendly to the union’s collective bargaining demands.