‘I AM APOLOGIZING’
Council President says she’s sorry for anti-Semitic remark, censure attempt fails >>
TRENTON >> She’s sorry.
Trenton City Council President Kathy McBride apologized Tuesday for making an anti-Semitic remark earlier this month.
“I am apologizing to the community at large,” McBride said at Tuesday’s council meeting, “because in my position you cannot make anyone feel insulted or you cannot be insensitive to any ethnic backgrounds, so I am apologizing to the community at large.”
McBride used an anti-Semitic slur during a Sept. 5 executive session, according to an audio recording obtained by The Trentonian.
“I’m sad for her,” McBride said on the recording. “I’m sad for her that they were able to wait her out and Jew her down for $22,000 with pins in her knee that can never, ever be repaired. I am sad for her as a Trenton resident.”
When Tuesday’s council meeting began about 5:30 p.m., McBride immediately issued her apology and said her statement in the Sept. 5 executive session “was not made to offend or to insult anyone.”
At-large Councilman Jerell Blakeley was not satisfied with McBride’s belated apology and introduced a motion calling for the council president to be censured “for her failure to apologize promptly” for her “despicable” comment.
Blakeley Tuesday evening also introduced motions calling for McBride’s chief apologists — South Ward Councilman George Muschal and West Ward Councilwoman Robin Vaughn — to be censured for defending McBride’s anti-Semitic expression.
East Ward Councilman Joe Harrison supported Blakeley’s censure resolutions, but the motions went down in flames as the five other City Council members opposed censuring McBride, Muschal and Vaughn for their roles in sparking or inflaming the “Jew down” controversy.
In an interview with the New Jersey Globe on Sunday, Muschal doubled down on comments he made to The Trentonian backing McBride, calling her anti-Semitic slur a “statement of speech.”
Muschal’s comments mirrored ones Vaughn made on Facebook when she suggested that “to ‘Jew someone down’ is a verb and is notanti-anything or indicative of hating Jewish people.”
Blakeley has called upon McBride and Muschal to resign for their anti-Semitic comments. Harrison on Tuesday publicly called for the South Ward councilman to step down.
With Muschal being a retired Trenton cop and a longtime sitting councilman, “If he doesn’t think those words are offensive, he should resign,” Harrison said. “We don’t need more negativity. This is embarrassing and he should resign.”
The South Ward councilman appeared calm on the dais Tuesday evening and did not tender his resignation.
McBride issued her public apology Tuesday and continued to preside over the council meeting without tendering her resignation.
Tuesday’s council meeting did not include an opportunity for public comments on miscellaneous issues. Blakeley attempted to rectify that by offering a motion that would have allowed average city residents — more than 30 were in attendance — to talk about the elected officials who espoused anti-Semitism.
All of Blakeley’s motions failed Tuesday evening, but he successfully stated for the record that he found Muschal’s full-throttled defense of McBride to be “the most reprehensible,” more “despicable” than what McBride said on Sept. 5 and worse than Vaughn’s Facebook comments.
Mayor Reed Gusciora called upon McBride to apologize in an email last Friday after he learned about McBride’s controversial comment.
Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, who formerly served as Trenton’s East Ward councilwoman, condemned McBride’s remarks earlier this week in a joint statement with Assemblyman Anthony Verrelli.
“The anti-Semitic statement made by Councilwoman McBride is unacceptable,” Reynolds-Jackson and Verrelli said Monday. “Elected officials are appropriately held to a higher standard; therefore, how we use language to convey messages in both private and public settings should be selected carefully, with sensitivity and consideration of all people. Councilwoman McBride should offer an immediate apology to those she has offended by her remark.”
Reynolds-Jackson and Verrelli, who represent the capital city as legislators of New Jersey’s 15th Legislative District, also addressed McBride’s chief apologists.
“Additionally, Councilmembers George Muschal and Robin Vaughn also should apologize for their statements minimizing the remarks made by their fellow city councilmember,” the Democratic Assembly members said.
City Council’s next public meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, and members of the public will be allowed to comment on anything they so desire at that meeting, according to the regular meeting agenda sheet.