City Attorney Apologizes After Live Microphone Picks Up His Snarky Remarks
The city attorney for Brea, Calif., apologized Tuesday for muttered remarks picked up by a microphone broadcasting a city council meeting live on cable TV.
James Markman could be heard calling Roy Moore “a bad mayor,” labeling residents’ remarks “craziness,” and expressing impatience when Moore invited teen volunteers honored with certificates to stay for the council meeting, according to the Orange County Register’s OC Watchdog blog. “Get the hell out. Get out,” Markman said under his breath after the mayor extended the teen invitation during the Oct. 4 meeting.
Markman told the Register that his “get out” comment may have been about a baseball score he got on his cellphone. As for his remarks about public commenters, Markman told the publication he was “frustrated from sitting in 3,000 meetings and listening to people get mean and personal in their comments.”
On Tuesday, Markman was contrite after a closed door meeting with the city council, the Orange County Register reports in a different story. “I was under some pressure and wanted to leave the meeting at a regular time,” Markman said. “If you were offended, I apologize to that.” He went on to say that he has worked many decades in the city of Brea and he “would regret having in any way diminished Brea’s brand or reputation.”
