Councilman-Elect Jawane Hilton
Carson City clerk Jim Dear states that Jawane Hilton’s election to councilman was illegal and allegedly uses N-Word.
Carson City Council recently swore in Jawane Hilton as councilman but received criticism and a lawsuit from former Mayor, now city clerk, Jim Dear. On June 2, Hilton had received majority of the votes to serve on a council seat left vacant by Mayor Al Robles. Dear claims Hilton’s swearing in was rushed and votes still needed to be counted.
Dear has since refused to continue counting the votes and is now suing the city council members for over alleged infractions.
Carson City Mayor Al Robles is disappointed that the ballots weren’t counted and claims that this was nothing more than a delay tactic by Dear.
“For the life of me, I cannot understand why these ballots have not been counted,” stated Robles. “And, because of that, I make a motion that Jawane Hilton should be sworn in as a City Council member.”
Dear accused the mayor of holding an illegal public meeting among other accusations. He has stated that there weren’t enough legal members present to hold the meeting.
“You’re breaking the law,” said Dear. “You’re making a mockery out of the law and a mockery out of the city of Carson.”
The tense situation was heightened by a distressed Dear, who made his oppositions known during Hilton’s swearing in ceremony.
“If you think you’re a council member right now, you’re not,” Dear stated to Hilton. Robles acknowledged Dear’s comments and excused much to Dear’s discontent.
“Try to remove me, an elected official, from this meeting and you’ll have a lawsuit like you wouldn’t believe. I’m the elected city clerk,” stated Dear. “The people of Carson will not put up with this tomfoolery.”
Dear eventually left the meeting.
Hilton spoke about the events of that evening.
“What happened was they appointed me an open seat that was occupied by Robles,” said Hilton. “There were two
vacancies on the council but one seat, which was Mike Gipson’s seat, the one that I was elected to however, [Dear] hadn’t counted the ballots before that night of the meeting when they appointed me to Robles’ seat.
“Some people got the story misconstrued; it was an actual appointed seat that Mayor Robles used to hold—they had the right to appoint to that seat.
“That appointment was not illegal.”
Gipson supports Hilton’s appointment to councilman and believes that he is the right person to take his former position.
“I am thrilled that the Carson residents have elected Jawane Hilton to serve in my former seat as Councilman for this great city,” said Gipson.
“I am confident that Councilman-Elect Hilton will work hard to represent the Carson community with competency and integrity. He has my total and unequivocal support.”
In addition to Dear’s objections to Hilton’s new position is the accusation that he called retired city clerk Charles Davis the N-word. Davis was overseeing the election process and recounts that they thought Dear was counting the ballots.
Davis would later get an email from Dear’s attorney stating that he was being summoned to appear before a judge. According to an interview with media, Davis recounts when Dear called him the N-word.
“Monday morning, I went to City Hall to look for the city attorney to see if the city was going to represent me,” stated Davis.
“The city attorney and I were walking down toward her office, and Jim Dear comes up behind me and calls out my name. I turned around. He said, ‘You have been served,’ and as he turns back around, under his breath, he says ‘nigger,’ and takes off toward his office. He said he said something else. The city attorney may or may not have heard it.”
Despite the drama, Hilton has plans for the city of Carson in his position and shared what he intends to do as councilman-elect.
“Carson has been divided to long,” said Hilton. “I would definitely bring Carson together, to get things done.
“I want to make sure our neighborhoods are safe, that we work on getting the NFL stadium and I would like to make sure that our youth and seniors have programs that actually protect them and make them productive in the city.”
City Clerk Jim Dear was not available for interview as of press time.
For more information on Councilman-Elect Jawane Hilton, please visit http://www.jawanehilton.com/
