Letter to the Editor:
At a certain point, refusing to take a position becomes a position of its own.
Samantha Wick wants voters to see her as a moderate, reasonable candidate who can represent everyone in Burbank. But the closer we get to Election Day, the harder it is to ignore what she chooses NOT to talk about. Wick still has not clearly told voters where she stands on ICE. She has also declined to take a clear position against Burbank’s Flock cameras, even as those systems have become part of a larger statewide debate over surveillance, privacy and immigration enforcement.
At the same time, her campaign has accepted big money support from major business and real-estate interests, including groups and donors aligned with the anti-progressive dark-money PACs fighting against tenant protections in Burbank. I think voters have every right to ask whether the people financing a campaign have anything to do with the issues she stays silent on.
If Samantha Wick were simply a private citizen, she would have no obligation to tell anyone what she thinks about ICE. But she is asking to lead our city. On an issue this consequential, “I’d rather not say” is not enough. This is the biggest civil rights issue of our time, and Samantha Wick has chosen to be silent about it.
David Donahue, for his part, has been much clearer on surveillance. He has called himself a “big supporter of the Flock cameras” and said Burbank should “double the contract.”
But Wick campaigns on transparency and accountability. Then be transparent. Does she support ICE’s actions or oppose them? Does she support cancelling the Flock contract? Would she expand them?
And if she wants voters to view her as a Democrat or a progressive voice, those labels should mean something beyond campaign branding. They should be reflected in the choices a candidate makes when civil liberties, immigration and surveillance are actually on the table.
You cannot ask voters to judge you by your values while refusing to tell them what those values are when the questions get difficult.
Kyle Anderson
Burbank
