Tony Roars: Lopez Not Backing Down From Social Media Posts

The latest candidate in the Sacramento mayor's race says he is not backing down from opinions he posted on social media, though his campaign is urging him to be more careful with his statements.

Last week on Facebook, Tony Lopez first supported a retired colonel who on a cable news show called President Obama a p***y for the president's response to terrorism.

Then, Lopez called the president the same word.

Today, he says he will continue to speak his mind and makes no apologies for what he's said.

"I'm not gonna back down," says Lopez. "I mean what I mean and I say what I say. Calling him a (derogatory term), it doesn't mean he is. That's just my thought. I'm entitled to my opinion."

His campaign staff says Lopez is making the transition from passionate private citizen to political candidate.  

"Tony shoots from the hip. Now that he's running for mayor, he has to second-guess everything he says and does" says spokesman C.T. Perez, "A lot is tongue in cheek. A lot of it is joking. He's aware now his jokes can be taken literally."

But, Lopez says he will make no efforts to be politically correct.

"I'm an outsider. I don't know the rules. I want to make up my own rules. We don't need more politicians in there," Lopez tells Capital Public Radio.

As for the name-calling directed at the President, college student and mayoral candidate Russell Rawlings says, "I wouldn't do that. That's pretty ridiculous. That shows where he's at as far as respect for governmental officials."

One of the politicians who is running for mayor is former Sacramento County Supervisor and State Senator Darrell Steinberg. Steinberg took issue with Lopez' support of a ban on burqas for Muslim women.

"I'm gonna run my own positive race, somebody's going to talk about concealed weapons permits and specifically banning burqas, those are the kinds of views, banning burqas specifically, that have no place in our community," Steinberg says. "If you want to be [Donald] Trump, go somewhere else."

France issued a burqa ban in 2011 that bars a garment or veil from concealing a woman's face.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's liberal-conservative Christian Democratic Union called for a ban on burqas in public Thursday.  

In 2011, the Belgian government banned the Islamic full-face veil and any clothing that obscured a person's identity in public places.

In 2007, the Netherlands prohibited a full veil in schools and on public transportation.

Sacramento City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby declined to comment on Lopez' posts.

Lopez' campaign selected all but two posts and deemed them private. Though, they are still visible to 5,000 "friends" on Facebook.

*Note: The social media posts referenced in this article has been taken down or hidden from public view. Capital Public Radio has taken screenshots of the posts but has chosen not to publish them.