Garcetti Continues Trump Criticisms In New Zealand Radio Interview
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Mayor Eric Garcetti spoke out against presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump while on a trade trip this weekend in New Zealand.
Speaking to Radio New Zealand Sunday, Garcetti -- a Hillary Clinton supporter -- said Trump "doesn't represent my city or my values."
Garcetti slammed Trump's plans of "erecting walls," "obliterating alliances" and "closing us off from the world."
"That's not who we are," Garcetti said. "Trumpism doesn't represent what we're about."
Asked how he would respond to a Trump presidency, Garcetti said he'd use powers available to him on a local level to resist certain disagreeable policies.
"We have tremendous power at the local level to say, 'This doesn't represent us,'" he said. "We might not have a lot of formal power, but we have informal powers."
He cited the city's "citizenship corners" program as an example of the city's efforts to help immigrants attain citizenship even as immigration reform stalls in Congress. The program provides citizenship materials and resources at city libraries.
Garcetti previously lambasted Trump at the opening of Clinton's L.A. campaign office earlier this month.
"We don't need a candidate who says, 'You're fired!" Garcetti told the crowd. "We need a candidate who says, 'You're hired!"
Garcetti was in New Zealand this weekend for a two-day trade and tourism talk with local government officials and business people. He was expected to return to Los Angeles Monday.
