Nelson Wolff says boycotting Bill Miller BBQ would be ‘huge mistake,’ no action taken on resolution

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) –    A resolution calling for a boycott of Bill Miller BBQ and the Pearl was presented by the Stonewall Democrats at a meeting of the Democratic Precinct Party Chairs Tuesday evening, but no action was taken.

Chris Forbrich with the Stonewall Democrats told KTSA News they agreed to table the issue and give the business owners time to respond after it was revealed that they contributed to President Trump’s campaign. Forbrich says they really don’t want to boycott the businesses, but they want to hear the owners disavow “hateful comments” that he says led to the Walmart mass shooting in El Paso that left 22 people dead.

“It’s our hope that we never have to boycott because surely they will come out and say that they can’t support a message which is leading domestic terrorists to go out and kill little children at Walmart,” said Forbrich. “The rhetoric that their campaign money paid for was the playbook used by the shooter and we shouldn’t be funding messages like that.”

The El Paso Walmart shooter had a manifesto that made reference to a “Hispanic invasion,” which President Trump has mentioned at rallies and speeches.

“What we’d like is to not have a boycott. We’d like simply for the leadership of Bill Miller’s to say they don’t support the hateful, racist messages that their money was used to pay for,” noted Forbrich.

There’s been no formal survey, but there probably are many Democrats who work for the San Antonio-based restaurant chain. Wouldn’t a boycott adversely affect them and their families?

“Those Democrats are working hard and we appreciate their work, but at some point, their ownership has to come out and do the right thing,” said Forbrich.

Meanwhile, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, a staunch Democrat, wrote a letter to Bexar County Democratic Party Chair Monica Alcantara advising that a boycott of Bill Miller BBQ would be a “huge mistake for the party.”

“A company should be judged by the services and products they provide and how they give back to the community, as well as how they treat their employees,” Wolff stated in the letter.

He notes that Bill Miller donated 9 acres of downtown area property  to UTSA when there was no 4-year university easily accessible to students in the West Side and South Side of San Antonio. He notes that the local restaurant chain has provided more than $3.5 million in tuition reimbursement since 1995, plus hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships elsewhere in addition to monetary contributions to the San Antonio School District’s Mama Patrol program, local livestock shows and other community events and organizations.

Wolff posted his open letter to local Democrats on his Facebook Page.