Bay Area Electrician Listed As Speaker At 'Unite The Right'

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CA -- Johnny "Monoxide" Ramondetta, a Berkeley resident and podcast host
who was scheduled to speak at last weekend's "Unite the Right" rally in Virginia, is no longer employed by an electrical contractor with offices in San Francisco and San Jose. Ramondetta was listed as a featured speaker on several fliers for the rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which turned deadly Saturday when a man allegedly drove a car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing a woman and injuring 19 other people.

Other speakers listed on the fliers were noted white nationalist Richard Spencer and "Baked Alaska," an internet commentator who appeared at a rally in Berkeley in April after the cancellation of a speaking event with conservative commentator Ann Coulter.

Ramondetta was also the subject of an extensive profile published by the hate group watchdog Southern Poverty Law Center, claiming that he's "developed a niche amongst conspiracy theorists and occult enthusiasts with neo-Nazi political and social views."

An employee at Rosendin Electric's San Francisco office confirmed on Tuesday that Ramondetta worked there, but a company spokesperson called back Wednesday to clarify that "John Ramondetta is no longer employed with Rosendin."

The spokesperson declined to comment any further but Ramondetta's union, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 6, released a statement Monday saying the views and opinions expressed by Ramondetta do not represent the views of the union.

"IBEW Local Union No. 6 condemns the violence and murder that took place this past weekend in Charlottesvile, VA. To be perfectly clear, IBEW Local Union No. 6 also condemns white nationalism and white supremacy, as they are in stark conflict with the express goals of our organization," union business manager and financial secretary John Doherty said in a statement.

"The 'Unite the Right' event, and the actions that were perpetrated by those in attendance, are disgraceful examples of a small minority of bigots that seek to exploit the growing economic desperation of law abiding Americans," Doherty said.

The union hosted an immigrant justice workshop sponsored by the SF Electrical Workers Minority Caucus and the Labor Center for Immigrant Justice in their auditorium on Fillmore Street Tuesday evening.

A "name-and-shame" poster featuring a number of epithet-laced quotes that purportedly came from Ramondetta's podcasts was circulated in a public post in the Facebook group Brotherhood in the Bay, where he was broadly condemned by fellow union members.

Ramondetta did not respond to a Facebook message asking him to confirm his presence at Unite the Right or comment on the statement issued by his union.

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He is the second Bay Area resident associated with the Charlottesville event to end up parting ways with his employer after last weekend.

Restaurant employee Cole White resigned from Top Dog, which has two locations in Berkeley and one in Oakland, after photos of him attending the rally surfaced on social media.

By Bay City News Service

Image: A photo of the flier circulated in a post of the Facebook group Brotherhood in the Bay. (Photo via Bay City News Service)