The president and CEO of a major business advocacy group has now resigned from his position after a racist political ad was posted on the organization’s website.
The Silicon Valley Organization denounced the ad Thursday and announced Matt Mahood had resigned. The group pledged to do better, one day after the scandal erupted. The ad in question featured a photo of black men rioting with the caption: "Do you really want to sign on to this?"
It was targeting San Jose City Council candidate Jake Tonkel over his position on policing.
"What has happened, what has been going on and what we have seen has happened is absolutely appalling," said board member Kevin Surace. "It was morally, ethically and politically wrong. I won’t stand for it, we won’t stand for it, it’s BS and it stops now."
Mahood was initially placed on administrative leave Wednesday and three board members resigned after the ad surfaced.
"That is not San Jose or Santa Clara County," said the Rev. Jethro Moore II, president of a local chapter of the NAACP, one of the local leaders who called for Mahood’s resignation. "This is tiring, this is frustrating, and we are not going to have racist behavior from companies or people who represent companies happening here in Santa Clara County."
"I found the use of that photograph to be abhorrent. There was clearly implicit racism embedded in that message. That is beneath us as a community," said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo on Thursday.
Liccardo said when he learned of the ad, he immediately contacted Mahood who said he was not aware of the ad until it was posted.
KPIX-5 reports Mahood issued an apology, taking full responsibility for the ad.
"I am very sorry for the completely unacceptable image that was put up on our website earlier this week," he wrote in a statement. "That image and messaging DOES NOT represent who I am as a man, a father, a husband or community leader. The people who know me and work with me on a regular basis know that. And I also know that the image and messaging does NOT represent the values of our members or the SVO Board of Directors."
SVO Executive Director Madison Nguyen announced the group has hired an outside organization to hold sensitivity training for all staff, PAC and board members and help form a Diversity and Inclusion review board.
"This board will review all the PAC messages as well, and we will never cross the line that was crossed before, we will never cross that again, I guarantee you as I stand here," pledged Surace.
The group has also hired a third party investigator to determine who was behind the ad and how it ended up on their website.