A city councilman and teacher caught on tape disparaging members of the military and calling them the "lowest of the low," has been asked to resign by the Pico Rivera City Council.
People lined up for hours to confront Councilmember Gregory Salcido about his comments, while Pico Rivera Mayor Gustavo Camacho asked for Salcido's resignation.
"To censor him from all duties, of the City of Pico Rivera, and the city as its councilmember, removed from all committees, and he is no longer, as far as we are concerned, a spokesman for us," Camacho said.
Salcido, who has been put on leave from El Rancho High School, offered his first public comments about the footage after listening to nearly fifty speakers and his colleagues condemn him.
"If this situation caused a problem, I certainly do apologize for that. If anything I have said has hurt somebody, it was unintentional," Salcido said.
Salcido was recorded scolding a 17-year-old student wearing a U.S. Marine Corps sweatshirt, urging the young man not to join the military.
"They're not like high-level thinkers, they're not academic people, they're not intellectual people; they're the frickin' lowest of our low," Salcido is heard to say on the tape. "I don't understand why we let the military guys come over here and recruit you at school. We don't let pimps come in the school."
After listening to the public outcry and his colleagues demand his resignation, he said there was one thing he thought was important.
"Is to apologize if it means something though? Because it seems people are saying two things: Apologize but get the hell out of here. That's two different things," Salcido said.
Salcido defended his comments, saying he became a pacifist after seeing photos of relatives who died in war on his grandmother's wall as a child. He says he only wants his students to choose college over military service.
"I think people in the military, or students who look to the military are lower-standing students. That's not a moral judgement on them. That's what I was saying that day." .
A recall effort against the councilman has begun according to reports.
KFI's Corbin Carson reports: