Pastor Robert Jones went to the Capitol last Wednesday hoping to make his voice heard.
What he got instead was a swear-word laden rebuke from Democratic Sen. Pat Wiggins, who interrupted Jones' testimony to say, "I think your arguments are bull---."
The exchange left Jones, the senior pastor at Oak Park United Methodist Church, stunned and offended. "It is a slap in the face," he said in an interview.
The outburst occurred as Jones, 46, testified at an informational hearing on how California will cut global warming emissions. Jones, who is African American, said he went to urge lawmakers to consider minority communities when drafting those regulations.
"Our communities are the ones who suffer more than any other communities - the poor and the underrepresented...," Jones said. "It is important to have our perspective."
But after less than two minutes of speaking -- and before he could finish -- Wiggins blurted out, "Excuse me, but I think your arguments are bull----."
A stunned Jones turned to Wiggins and could muster only a "well..." before Sen. Christine Kehoe, a San Diego Democrat and the chair of the hearing, interjected.
"Let me step in here, Pastor Jones, we very much appreciate your presence here today and you're right. The community should be part of the discussion and it is," Kehoe said.
In an interview on Saturday, Jones called Wiggins' comments "extremely disturbing" and said he had not yet been contacted by the senator, or her staff, to apologize.
A plan, he said, was "in the works" to "respond to this affront."
"There's a way to disagree without being disrespectful," Jones said. "As a public servant, particularly a lawmaker, there is a standard of ethics that they should be held to."
Jones added that Sen. Kehoe had called to apologize on Wiggins' behalf.
Wiggins' office issued a statement in response to a request for comment from Capitol Alert in which the Santa Rosa Democrat said she "deeply regrets her comment and looks forward to apologizing to the pastor personally."
The statement added that she had "already attempted to do so through his representative" and would do so again soon.
"She very much believes that the process of drafting regulations, as well as the pursuit of environmental justice issues generally, should be all-inclusive," her office said in the statement. "One of the main reasons for holding a legislative hearing is to seek input and testimony from a broad range of groups and individuals."
The whole episode could have escaped notice in the frenetic final weeks of the legislative calendar. But on Friday, someone posted the Wiggins-Jones exchange on YouTube, the popular video-sharing Web site. As of Sunday evening, the video had been viewed more than 400 times.
Watch the video here.
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