Here’s Councilman Callahan’s opening statement on the ethics issue at the City Council meeting last night.
He says all he wants is the truth, simply asked that the Mayor look in to the issue, would abide by the conclusion of his investigation, has no desire to harm AMK, was stonewalled, was denied, kept the issue private till the Mayor’s statement against him, blames the Mayor for the public situation we are in, didn’t want to do a press conference, the Mayor left him no choice, wants to get this over with, but feels he will be right when all the information comes out.
- Mayor, you denied it not me.
- I tried three times to handle this the right way and fair to everybody.
- I don’t want any harm to [AMK] if it wasn’t true.
- Simply interview the employees in the department to find out the truth.
- I offered you three different opportunities to look into the seriousness of the issues.
- We would not be in this situation if you had simply looked in to the allegations.
- I tried to keep it quiet. I tried to keep it between us.
- I want the truth. I think all of us want the truth.
- I did not want to do a press conference.
- I had no other option. What else was I going to do?
- I was denied, denied, denied.
- This doesn’t look good for the whole City of Bethlehem.
- I want to get it over with.
- What was I going to do after three denials?
- I had tried all along to keep this quiet and professional and confidential.
- I’m asking, please . . . interview the people.
- I don’t want anybody who doesn’t like Ms. Karner fabricating anything.
- Would you be willing to go to State ethics?
- I’m finished with it. You’ll never hear me bring it up again.
- I had a tone for a reason.
- I tried to handle this one-on-one, tried three different times to keep it confidential.
- And I got stonewalled, stonewalled, stonewalled, and that’s why I was pissed.
- When all the information comes out, I’m going to be right.
- It’s all tied together.
- I’m done with it.
- I apologize. but I felt something was not right here.
- I hope we can all move on from here.
- If they’re trying to attack [AMK] for no reason, I want them held accountable too.
Interesting monologue.
It’s all tied together. Feels he will be judged right when all information comes out.
Doesn’t that sound like BGC is still teasing us with some dark secret he’s not revealing?
Doesn’t that sound like, despite protestations otherwise, that he has prejudged the outcome of an investigation of AMK?
And he repeats that he’s “done with this,” but all appearances are to the contrary.
Interesting monolgue.
to be continued . . .