Video Posted of Norwalk Mayor's Alleged Rudeness

Maribeth Becker listens to Mayor Richard Moccia at last week's Common Council meeting.

Photo credit: Contributed

NORWALK, Conn. – A Norwalk resident says she was rudely interrupted during a meeting last week by Norwalk's mayor, who says she paused and he offered a helpful suggestion. A video is now available for you to judge for yourself.

Maribeth Becker wrote an open letter to the mayor and council last week, complaining in part that Mayor Richard Moccia had "rudely interrupted" her when she took the lectern during the public comment portion of the meeting.

The video of last week's Common Council meeting was posted Tuesday on the city's website. You can see it here. Becker is the third and final speaker in the public comment portion of the meeting. Fast forward to 7 minutes and 48 seconds to see what happened.

Moccia says Becker paused, and he attempted to provide information. He told her to ask Susan Wallerstein, the first speaker from the public at the meeting.

When Moccia speaks to Becker, the video shifts to a shot of him and other council members. Moccia says the conversation ended awkwardly as someone yelled something from the audience and he reacted to that.

Comments

13foxtrot:

Submitted on February 24, 2012 - 2:02am.

13foxtrot:

That's typical of Moccia. He never lets people say what they want to say - always has to make some comment whenever somebody calls him on something. It sounds like Ms. Becker wanted to know how a grant could be on the Council Agenda when there were never any publicly noticed meetings for this committee. Makes for a legit question – which Moccia could have answered but instead chose to be the smart a%$ that he is. Guess he won’t be wrapping his paw around her at the next social function. Smoke and Mirrors, Dickie boy, Smoke and Mirrors.

Submitted on February 24, 2012 - 2:00am.

OLD TIMER:

She says she had a question and never got to ask it. It sounds like she was asking how could there be a grant request for the arts commission with no meetings of that commission in over six months. Some of us would not have allowed ourselves to be dismissed (waved off in mid-sentence) by the mayor before the question was asked, as she clearly was, and would have persisted to get the question on the record. She is apparently more easily intimidated than some of us. The discussion about the appointments wasted a lot of time and accomplished very little except to remind the mayor, on the record, that he agreed to more notice on appointments and has not honored that agreement.(getting forgetful ?) Is it possible he does not understand how rude he was ?. Could it be a lack of respect for women generally is so ingrained he is not aware when he demonstrates it ?
Before the meeting was over, Ms Becker's question was addressed by others and the chair of the arts commission, Ms Wallerstein, went on the record that the arts commission had been left out of the process and the grant was applied for without arts commission involvement. She did not object to the grant, only to the process of applying for an arts grant, bypassing the arts commission. The mayor said later that the grant application was handled by redevelopment. It sounds like he was trying to avoid explaining that to the council. Ms Wallerstein did explain the Arts commission was bypassed in the grant application process. We can be confident the grant money will not also bypass the arts commission, can't we ?

Submitted on February 22, 2012 - 5:48pm.

lwitherspoon:

Thanks for following up and posting the video. He did not cut Maribeth Becker short, she paused and he interjected a comment regarding someone who might have helpful information. It's hard to see what happened after that because the camera cut back to the mayor; according to the story he claimed somebody in the audience yelled something. After his first interjection, Ms. Becker said a few other words and from the audio alone it sounds like he could be cutting her off, but it's really tough to tell since we don't have the video of Ms. Becker while the mayor was speaking, and also according to Ms. Becker's own letter she turned away and left rather than engage in dialogue. Methinks she doth protest too much. Based on the collective information we've seen, I'd say this is a non-issue.

I would be interested in a story about why several people who are active in the arts seem to have issues with the Mayor. In that same meeting, Susan Wallerstein seemed very offended about an issue regarding a grant and also what she deemed disrespect of her by the Mayor. Is this just an issue of people acting offended because they're not getting what they want, or was there truly some poor treatment? There is probably a lot more to this story. I certainly don't think it's reasonable for people to think that they can go to public meetings, blast public officials, and not expect those same public officials to respond with an explanation or defense. Public commenters should WANT a response. If elected officials did not respond, we would not be living under a responsive democracy. Prefacing a comment with "here's my comment please don't criticize it" is childish and ridiculous.

Submitted on February 22, 2012 - 4:18pm.

Broad River:

I think she was given time to make a comment, she admitted she was not representing anyone. She stated her remark, it appeared she was reading it off paper but it read as though it was off the cuff. I've listened twice now and there is no clear idea traded. Then she was given the name of the person that could better serve her with her comment.

I think she might have been given more time to comment of she was better prepared. I don't think the council was prepared for questions. So being noted on record, wasn't she done?

Submitted on February 22, 2012 - 10:24am.

CT Patriot:

Thats it? That's what she's making a big deal over? ohhh boo hoo! if you are going to attend a public political forum you are going to have to grow some culiones. sorry. He may have cut you short but your didnt even have a question... it was a comment. Then you wanted to go on further...he directed you to the proper person. These people are tired. They work all day. put in countless hours attending stuff and want to go home just like you do....

Submitted on February 21, 2012 - 9:09pm.

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