Assemblyman David Gantt: County made up threats
February 15, 2008
Assemblyman David Gantt apologized Thursday for what he said were “inappropriate” remarks he made this week while being escorted from the Monroe County legislative chambers.
But Gantt, D-Rochester, and Minister Ray Scott went on to allege that Monroe County officials manufactured threats of violence to support an excessive show of force by law enforcement at the meeting.
County and sheriff officials maintain there were “threats of disturbances,” but declined Thursday to say whether there was any actual threat of violence, as has been alleged by Majority Leader Dan Quatro, R-Webster, in justifying the unprecedented security by sheriff deputies.
The meeting Tuesday night ended a controversial process to select the county’s next public defender.
Lawmakers appointed Timothy Donaher, an eight-year veteran of the public defender office. The meeting drew an overflow crowd, which was met by an unknown number of sheriff’s deputies inside and outside the legislative chambers.
“People have a right to participate in government,” Gantt said. “The white community does it all the time.”
Gantt and Scott called a news conference Thursday and derided the Republican majority and Sheriff’s Office for the show of force they said violated the open meetings law and people’s civil rights. The claim is that county officials were reacting not to any real threat but to the number of black people who turned out.
Sheriff’s Cpl. John Helfer called the allegation inflammatory and unworthy of a response. He said the office’s standard practice is to not disclose specifics on intelligence gathering, involving threats or otherwise. The same goes for providing any specifics about the number of deputies deployed and security measures taken.
At the meeting, Gantt made a reference to last week’s shooting at a City Council meeting in Missouri that left several people dead. Gantt was being escorted out when he said, “And you guys wonder why there’s violence. You guys wonder why. You wonder why a guy go into Missouri and shoot some damn body.”
Gantt said what he meant Tuesday was that people who are shut out, act out. But he said the shooting was clearly wrong, and insisted that he has always preached non-violence.
“It was inappropriate for me to say that,” Gantt said of his Tuesday remark. “I apologize to the community.”
Gantt said the ongoing dispute is not about Donaher, personally, and that he welcomed the opportunity to meet and work with the new public defender. Gantt, Scott and Quatro all said they are willing to talk about how to avoid a repeat of recent weeks. But that doesn’t mean all is forgotten.
“All of it was prudent, and all of it was necessary,” Quatro said of the deputies’ actions. When pressed on his past statements that activists had threatened violence, however, he could not provide details. “The answer is no. None of the specifics was shared with me.”
And none of that changes how Gantt reacted, Quatro said.
“What we had today in that press conference was we had a state assemblyman who made irresponsible remarks attempting to deflect attention,” he said. “What we have here is an assemblyman who embarrassed himself.”
Source: Democrat and Chronicle
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