Quite a collection of pols, public officials and community activists have come to the defense of City Councilman Bob Walsh who’s phone rant to council partner Evette Brantley has the legislative body going where it has never gone before: what to do about a member race accusation? What would be appropriate action is unclear.
I’ve seen and heard council members through the years do all kinds of kooky stuff. The council is expected to do something official in January. Walsh, who is white, threw a (recorded) phone fit after Brantley, who is black, echoed support for the Finch administration’s Steel Point development deal. Walsh suggested that Brantley caved to the “masta.” Brantley took the audio to City Council President Tom McCarthy. See letter support below:
AN OPEN LETTER REGARDING BOB WALSH
THE RECENT ANTICS OF MAYOR FINCH AND CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT, THOMAS MCCARTHY CONCERNING COUNCILMAN BOB WALSH HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RACISM. THEY HAVE EVERYTHING TO DO WITH A DELIBERATE, CALCULATED AND ORCHESTRATED CAMPAIGN DESIGNED TO SILENCE AN INDEPENDENT COUNCILMAN WHO ASKS THE TOUGH QUESTIONS, AND HAS THE COURAGE TO DISSENT.
LACKING THE CAPACITY TO ARGUE THE MERITS OF MUNICIPAL ISSUES WITH AN HONEST, ARTICULATE, HARDWORKING LEGISLATOR, THEY HAVE DECIDED TO ATTACK HIM PERSONALLY. THEY HAVE DONE THIS, BY ENLARGING A PERSONAL DISPUTE BETWEEN COUNCILMAN WALSH AND COUNCILWOMAN YVETTE BRANTLEY, INTO A PUBLIC SPECTACLE.
NOT ONLY IS THE MOTIVATION OF MAYOR FINCH AND COUNCILMAN MCCARTHY CLEAR, IT IS EQUALLY CLEAR THAT NEITHER THE MAYOR NOR THE CITY COUNCIL HAS ANY AUTHORITY IN THIS MATTER.
THE FACTS OF THIS MATTER ARE NOT IN DISPUTE. MR. WALSH LEFT MS. BRANTLEY A PRIVATE MESSAGE ON HER HOME TELEPHONE ANSWERING MACHINE, EXPRESSING HIS DISAGREEMENT WITH HER ON THE ISSUE OF STEEL POINT. HE LEFT THIS MESSAGE WHEN HE WAS UPSET, AND USED ILL-ADVISED LANGUAGE. HE LEFT A SECOND MESSAGE, DURING WHICH HE ADMITTED THAT HIS WORDS WERE NOT WELL CHOSEN.
ONLY AFTER TWO WEEKS HAD PASSED, AND THE SECOND MESSAGE HAD BEEN RECORDED, DID THE FINCH ADMINISTRATION CHOOSE TO DISCLOSE THE TAPE’S CONTENT TO THE MEDIA. IT DID SO IN A FRIDAY AFTERNOON PRESS RELEASE, ISSUED WHILE COUNCILMAN WALSH WAS OUT OF THE COUNTRY.
TALK OF REMOVING COUNCILMAN WALSH FROM THE CITY COUNCIL IS RIDICULOUS AND PATENTLY ILLEGAL. THE COUNCIL HAS NO AUTHORITY TO DISENFRANCHISE THE VOTERS OF MR. WALSH’S DISTRICT–BRIDGEPORT VOTERS WHO HAVE CONSISTENTLY SUPPORTED HIS INDEPENDENCE OF THOUGHT AND ACTION, BY REPEATEDLY RE-ELECTING HIM.
NO PUBLIC FUNDS WERE EXPENDED OR MISUSED IN THIS AFFAIR.
NO COMMENT WAS MADE AT A MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OR IN ANY OTHER PUBLIC FORUM.
IT HAS BEEN THE ACTIONS OF COUNCIL PRESIDENT MCCARTHY AND MAYOR FINCH WHICH ELEVATED THE STATUS OF THIS INCIDENT, AND CREATED A PUBLIC ISSUE. WE ARE APPALLED THAT THEY WOULD ARTIFICIALLY MANUFACTURE A CONTROVERSY, USING THE INCENDIARY ISSUE OF RACE.
UNLIKE THE PRESIDENT OF THE CITY COUNCIL, BOB WALSH IS NOT A CITY EMPLOYEE, AND DOES NOT HAVE A SUBSERVIENT RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CITY’S EXECUTIVE BRANCH. NOR IS HE BEHOLDEN TO ANYONE FOR POLITICAL FAVORS.
COUNCILMAN WALSH’S PUBLIC RECORD AND LIFE TIME OF ADVOCACY IN SUPPORT OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL CITIZENS, IS WELL KNOWN, AND WELL DOCUMENTED. HE CAMPAIGNED TIRELESSLY IN AN ATTEMPT TO ELECT A PUERTO-RICAN MALE AS MAYOR AND A BLACK WOMAN AS STATE SENATOR. HE HAS STOOD UP FOR PEOPLE WHOSE RIGHTS HAVE BEEN VIOLATED, SUCH AS THE SCHOOL NURSES.
MAYOR FINCH AND CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT MCCARTHY WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DIMINISH EITHER BOB WALSH OR HIS RECORD OF SERVICE TO BRIDGEPORT, BY RESORTING TO VICIOUS PERSONAL ATTACKS AND POLITICAL POSTURING.
ON A PERSONAL LEVEL, WE FREELY ADMIT THAT BOB WALSH HAS A FIERY TEMPER, ONE WHICH HE HAS EMPLOYED MANY TIMES TO THE BENEFIT OF THIS CITY. HE HAS BEEN KNOWN TO UTILIZE A TART TONGUE AS PART OF HIS DEBATING ARSENAL–ANOTHER TRAIT THAT HAS SERVED THE CITY QUITE WELL OVER THE YEARS.
HIS SENSE OF HUMOR INCLUDES THE ABILITY TO MAKE FUN OF HIMSELF, PROVING THAT HE TAKES HIS JOB VERY SERIOUSLY, BUT DOES NOT TAKE HIMSELF TOO SERIOUSLY.
BECAUSE ALL RELEVANT FACTS HAVE BEEN KNOWN FROM THE BEGINNING, THE ‘INVESTIGATION’ LAUNCHED BY THE FINCH ADMINISTRATION IS A POLITICAL SHAM, AS IS THE ‘SHOW TRIAL’ WHICH MAYOR FINCH AND COUNCIL PRESIDENT MCCARTHY SEEM DETERMINED TO CHOREOGRAPH.
WE ARE CONFIDENT THAT OTHER MEMBERS OF THE BRIDGEPORT CITY COUNCIL WILL NOT JOIN IN THIS TRANSPARENT POLITICAL FARCE.
IT IS A SHAME THAT AN HONEST, DECENT, AND HARD WORKING LEGISLATOR WITH AN UNAMBIGUOUS REPUTATION FOR PERSONAL INTEGRITY HAS BEEN SMEARED BY OFFICIALS OF THE CITY OF BRIDGEPORT. BUT IT IS AN EVEN GREATER SHAME THAT THIS SMEAR CAMPAIGN IS DESIGNED TO STIFLE DISSENT, DISCREDIT LEGITIMATE OPPOSITION, AND DETER OTHERS FROM SPEAKING OUT FOR FEAR OF INCURRING THE WRATH OF THE FINCH ADMINISTRATION.
BRIDGEPORT HAS TOO MANY REAL AND PRESSING CHALLENGES TO OVERCOME FOR ITS LEGISLATIVE BODY TO WASTE ANY MORE TIME ON THE POLITICAL GRANDSTANDING AND REVENGE POLITICS WHICH MOTIVATED THESE ATTACKS ON BOB WALSH. IT IS TIME FOR THE CITY TO MOVE ON.
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED FRIENDS OF BOB WALSH ARE NOT FOOLED BY THIS CHICANERY AND ARE CONFIDENT THAT THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF BRIDGEPORT WILL NOT BE FOOLED EITHER.
VERY TRULY YOURS,
ANDRE BAKER
SAUDA BARAKA
CAROL COCCO
PENNY COVINO
LAURAYNE FARRAR-JAMES
SENATOR ED GOMES
MAXINE AND DONALD GREENBERG
BOB KEELEY
CARMEN L. LOPEZ
RON MACKEY
MAX MEDINA
MARILYN MOORE
MIGDALIA MUNIZ
LISA PARZIALE
ELAINE PIVIROTTO
ANGEL REYES
NEIDA ROBLES
BOBBY SIMMONS
JEFFREY TISDALE
(Check out my daily webzine www.onlyinbridgeport.com)
Bob Walsh’s rant and racist comments to Evette Brantley are an embarrassment to the entire community. There is only one course of action that should be taken, and that is for him to resign. Bob, I don’t care who writes a letter in support of you, you let everyone down. It’s a very sad day for Bridgeport that in 2009, this type of behavior from elected officials is still occurring. Such a shame. . .
Bob Walsh is a hero for standing up to Bill FInch and the rest of the crew who are ripping off the taxpayers and subsidizing real estate developers.
Walsh’s comments were poorly made but the greater evil is the way people like FInch are giving away our tax dollars to real estate developers and then crushing anyone who dares to stand up to their bully boy tactics. Bob Walsh is a hero, Evette Brantley is a political hack who doesn’t stand up for her constituents. It is Ms Brantley who should be thrown out of office along with her fellow hacks like Bill Finch and Tom McCathy. Several hundred families most of them people of color had their community leveled to build this Steel Point fiasco to benefit corrupt real estate developers.
Getting a letter like that is a wonderful tribute to Bob Walsh. However, the fact that is exists at all is a shame.
The real problem here is as much attributable to an inability to recognize how inappropriate the remarks were, and apologize fully, as it is to the original remarks themselves.
The body of this letter is accurate, but Bob Walsh, temper or no temper should be ashamed of the words he used. There is no place for racism on any level within the borders of the United States and that includes any racism that Evette Brantley may have exhibited.