City Council members targeted by an anonymous homophobic flyer laced with personal insults are demanding an investigation on how it came to be distributed in City Hall mailboxes.
“This has all the markings of a hate crime,” Councilman Adrian Mapp said Monday night as he called for both an internal investigation and informing Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow of the flyer.
Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, also serving as acting city administrator at Monday’s council meeting, said she only saw the flyer when a member of the media showed it to her.
“We don’t condone that type of behavior,” she said. “We love and accept everybody.”
The mayor said the flyer was not prepared or distributed by city employees, but Councilwoman Rebecca Williams called for a look at all the city’s copy machines and computers, saying similar racist and homophobic material had been distributed before.
Williams said under Title 7 any worker could hold the city liable “for permitting this atmosphere.”
The flyer, titled “The Scarlet Letter,” appeared yesterday, calling Mapp, Williams, Council President Annie McWilliams and Councilman Cory Storch “a lethal combination of gay and lesbian elitists who are destroying the city.” The flyer calls them “the voices of NO and HATE, just like the republican led house (sic) in the United States.”
Three city bloggers and an activist were also charged with “destroying our community” and a reporter was called “an equal opportunity racist.” After a series of harsh individual attacks, the text concludes by saying “This year and next years (sic) elections are critically important. THE THREE VOICES OF NO MUST GO!”
Storch is up for re-election this year in the Second Ward. McWilliams and Mapp must run next year for re-election. Along with Williams, who took office Jan. 1, the four are a New Democrat majority on the seven-member governing body.
Cynthia Smith, president of the Plainfield Municipal Employees Union, said the mailroom in the basement of City Hall was kept locked when the city had a mail clerk, but now it is open for employees to pick up their mail.
The controversy comes just as the April 11 filing date for the June primary looms. Two City Council seats, all the Democratic City Committee seats and the Democrat Party chairmanship are at stake in a year already marred by ongoing political clashes between Democratic factions. In public comments Monday night, residents deplored the abrasiveness caught on videotape at council meetings and broadcast on local television channels.
--Bernice Paglia
The Mayor loves us all does she??? Please Sharon, save your love for me and use that energy to look at yourself in the mirror and see how your hateful, mean petty politics and grasping to power has caused this.
ReplyDeleteI guess we can see how the "let's all get along and like each other" method of operation goes when you are dealing with thugs.
Jerry Green was the last person to bring up someone's sexual orientation up as a topic of discussion ( although if said "hate" mail was articulate or well written you know it couldn't be him or his blog writer). Dave Wynn has the most to lose from a city government that requires accountability and oversight and has proven he has no problems spreading half truths and lies. The Mayor simply has no clue.
This is the city government you party voting democrats have given us.
High Five to you all....THANK GOD there isn't one of those fag hating Republicans in office.
I am really surprised that there are no security cameras in the city hall building
ReplyDeleteI don't see why this is a HATE piece. If the elitist and gays are destroying the city, then it is someone's view. This is America and you areentitled to a view.
ReplyDeleteMaybe there was a violation of city policy to use photo copying machines.
But a HATE crime on a federal level?
Get real and stop you whining!
J Stone
As much as some would like to blame the Mayor on this one. We should not. Perhaps those targeted in flyers should be more visible at venues where the Mayor attends. Nevertheless, I am still no fan of the Mayor.
ReplyDeleteSecurity cameras in City Hall? Policies for use of copiers and computers? Use of cellphones and city telephone policies?
ReplyDeleteYou got to be kidding me. What good are policies when you don't enforce them.
I guess it is okay for a high level city official to use a city computer, phone and car for personal use and get away with a hand smack. So what if it can be determined what copier or computer was used. A precedence has already been say. Three Day Suspension
Oh everyone is going to have such fun condemning "The Scarlett Letter." And just in time for campaign season.
ReplyDeleteA. If some idiot wants to fill the mailboxes at City Hall with stupidities, have at.
B. If we're going to have an investigation, let's investigate why we were under counted on the Census or why we can't get our roads paved.
C. How do I get to be a gay elitist? I hear they have the best parties.
So who has access to the city hall mailroom and has lost something as a result of recent council actions as voted in by the elitist group? Maybe someone in recreation or purchasing?
ReplyDeleteTo 9:11 AM -- Unless you read the letter in its entirety, it's not one that expresses an opinion, rather it expresses hate - there is a difference. Opinions are proteced by the Constitution, hate speach is not.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that it was purposefully distributed into the mailboxes of all the municipal employees creates a hostile and potentially unsafe working environment for members of the City Hall staff or City workers that may be gay or lesbian.
It's not about "whining" and "getting real" it's about being tolerant and respectful.
Perhaps you agree with the "author" of the letter or perhaps you wrote it?
I can tell you with certainty that there are very strong suspicions as to who penned this letter and that person can be sure to expect authorities to come 'a knockin' on their door soon enough.
On another note, I am not a fan of the Mayor or her administration, however, unless otherwise proven, I think that it would be unfair to accuse the Mayor of being involved or knowing from where this letter originated. The accusation is not hate speach, but it is hateful.
This is truly an unfortunate day for Plainfield, no matter your race, religion or sexual preference.
ReplyDeleteWe are well into the 21st century and it's difficult to understand why we cannot disagree without resorting to such hate, especially in a City whose population is predominantly African-American and all too well understands the impact and residual effects of hate.
What the writer of the letter does not realize is that there have always been gays and lesbians in Plainfield, whether visible or not.
It's important to note for writer of this letter and others who share similar thoughts, that over the past 20 years, or so, when others would not even come near Plainfield, gays and lesbians took a chance on this City, despite its repuation -- saving homes from destruction, becoming pro-active in City government and giving of themselves and their money to worthwhile causes.
Let's all hope that this is just a slight bump in the road that will allow us to move a little slower and think before we make judgments or utter nonsense.
God willing the individual who wrote this letter will be found and held accountable for their actions.
Question: Do you have to be gay to be a gay elitist?
ReplyDeleteIf not, please let me know where I can sign up!
Judging from the New Democrat side kicks Rob and Bob this is manna from heaven.
ReplyDeleteI think Stone is right: This is much ado about nothing (maybe a city hall policy violation).
Then again, it is political season. Why not whine and take full advantage of this???
I'm glad to see the mayor has her goose steppers writing for her. Heaven forbid we get a useful piece of information from her. Shady Sharon is not to be trusted and most of us know it. She is the viper who is loose in City Hall and watch out where you step.
ReplyDeleteThe sentiment starts at the top. The mayor through her actions at the Council meetings promotes divisive and racist behaviour.
ReplyDeleteShe may not have written it, but it was written because the writer knew it would be tolerated by the mayor. Beyond Sharon's "we love everyone", there will be no policy changes, there will be no investigation, and there will be no apology from her on behalf of the city.
Truthfully, I believe that the flyer is the product of someone mentioned on it or one of their cronies, There was a teacher some years back that wrote herself threatening letters to prove to police that she had a stalker chasing her.
ReplyDeleteTo all of those who think this is much to do about nothing, do you also hold the same belief about burning a cross on someone's front lawn or a swastika spray-painted on a Temple? It is the same thing. And for your information, you don't have the right to libel or defame a private citizen. If this was truly an issue of free speech, the coward would have signed his name to his letter.
ReplyDeleteKL
oh...I could only aspire to be a Cheerleader though! Make it the Cheerleading 4 for Sharon!! And not a NEW Democrat, OLD Democrat, Regular Democrat or Democrat Lite...a Democrat who votes for the person not the party...So you could label me a Smart Democrat. Few and far between for any brethren in Plainfield.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't pay the letter's author any mind. Without a signature the author is nothing more than a coward!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this is by Plainfield's self-appointed "clipmaster" who might have thought it a good idea to defame the New Dems and himself of course too just to get us all excited and mad at Sharon. If so it wouldn't be the first time that kind of dirty trick has been tried here. After all it's election season and the New Dems want to capture the local democratic committee.
ReplyDelete