Jack Chiovatero

Jack Chiovatero, mayor of New Berlin, has a very low opinion of his constituents; so low, in fact, that I wonder why Chiovatero chooses to live in the city, let alone be its mayor.

He minced no words. The mayor believes his city is loaded with bigots. His view came to light in an official e-mail, not a personal correspondence.

Read Chiovatero's e-mail.

"Our City is filled with prejudice and bigoted people who with very few facts are making this project into something evil and degrading."

According to Chiovatero, the people of New Berlin are bent on making the city "a community of bigots."

Here's the background, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Mayor Jack Chiovatero on Tuesday apologized to New Berlin residents for saying in an e-mail last week that the city is filled with prejudiced and bigoted people.

Chiovatero fired off the e-mail to a resident last week after he was bombarded with criticism over his support for a controversial multifamily and senior housing development approved for the City Center that includes so-called workforce housing.

The mayor on Tuesday also said he was pulling his support for the project based on "public outcry and public opinion."

Chiovatero said people wrongly assumed that workforce housing meant a low-income housing project.

The workforce apartments actually were targeted at people earning about $35,000 or less a year, including some who work nearby at Wal-Mart or assisted living facilities but can't afford to live near where they work, according to city officials and developer MSP Real Estate.

Many people who criticized him also believed the project would lead to an increase in crime and illegal drugs, Chiovatero said. Some even called him the N-word and others harassed his children and friends, telling them to get him to pull his support for the project, he said.

Frustrated over the amount and nature of the criticism, Chiovatero sent the e-mail to a supporter of the project, telling her of the complaints he was getting and that he could not continue to support the project.

The woman forwarded the e-mail to others, and it soon became public.

Obviously, emotions are running high in New Berlin.

It's unfortunate that the merits of the project aren't being debated in a rational manner.

Tossing around personal aspersions and sweeping generalizations achieves nothing but to poison the atmosphere, making discussion more difficult if not impossible.

...In the May 25 e-mail, Chiovatero stated: "I am a prisoner in my own home. I have spent several hours a day last week listening and replying to concerned citizens. I spent all weekend doing the same. I went to Pick N Save to pick up a prescription and I was stopped by several people and it took an hour and a half to leave the store. I was asked NOT to attend two functions this weekend for fear it would distract and cause havoc by my presence. Our City is filled with prejudice and bigoted people who with very few facts are making this project into something evil and degrading."

He also stated, "New Berlin is not ready, nor may never be, for a project like this."

As for the apology, Chiovatero said he never meant to categorize all New Berlin citizens in the way he did in the e-mail. He said he wrote the e-mail quickly and meant to say that "a few citizens were prejudiced."

"I didn't mean to categorize New Berlin citizens in a bad light," he said.

The functions he was asked not to attend the weekend of May 22-23 were a community group anniversary celebration and a scouting event, Chiovatero said.

Of course, Chiovatero is trying to backtrack now. He was busted.

More than once in his May 25 e-mail he referred to New Berlin as being home to bigots, not just a few prejudiced citizens. This 'I meant to say' stuff is silly. The fact is Chiovatero categorized the overwhelming majority of New Berlin citizens in a very bad light.

He should own up to his honest opinion of his constituents and apologize unequivocally, not make excuses.

He really is in a bind. It's tough to convincingly apologize for what one sincerely believes.

Chiovatero used unbelievably poor judgment in writing that e-mail and forwarding it. He was incredibly naive. How could he not get that it would be a problem for him politically?

The mayor of New Berlin definitely has a problem.