David Narkewicz and Michael Bardsley managed to get through nearly two hours of a debate without getting prickly with each other. But the last few minutes of their exchange got heated. The disagreement began when Narkewicz complained that Bardlsey misquoted him:
“[Bardsley] said I was morally opposed to gambling. That’s not what I said at the time. I said I do not believe in it as a sound public policy, and I said it’s been a failed system. The state had promised the lottery as being this great savior for cities and towns, and they have not lived up to their promises of sending it [the proceeds] home. So the idea that we were now going to figure out a new way to get people to play the lottery in their homes, or to go home and play it all day, just seemed absurd to me. So I took a vote on that. It was not a moral or Puritanistic vote…”
Bardsley returned to the issue when it was his turn to speak:
MB: David keeps talking about a positive campaign and only talking about himself, but at the same time, I think as you’ve heard here today, he’s taken shots. He’s criticizing me. That’s what it’s about. That’s what the process is about. So by my raising issues, that’s not me being negative, all I’m saying is here are concerns, things that could be done differently, here’s what I propose to do. Yes, I’m listening to people who are upset and frustrated, but I don’t have a strategy to appeal to angry people. I listen to people. I work with a wide range of people, including those who feel disaffiliated.
We were asked last night in terms of questions about leadership style—you know, the whole thing about compromise—and David in response to that said, you know, that he’s a compromiser. He put himself out as a moderate, and actually he referred to Silvio Conte in that reference.
There are sometimes when there are issues where you’ve got to take a stand that will put you in opposition with people. It’s not a popular stand. I faced that over the Smith Overlay District. I faced that over the landfill. Those weren’t popular things. I could have played the moderate position there. I did what I thought was right. I listened to people. I listened to their concerns and got a balanced perspective. I will take the difficult, courageous step. And that’s leadership.
DN: My only objection to that is that I’m having quotes attributed to me that I did not say and you have no way of verifying. And that’s all I’ll say on that. I did not say I was a moderate. I did not say I was Silvio Conte…
MB: I didn’t say you said you were Silvio Conte.
DN: I did not say I was a compromiser. There was a question about a breakdown at the federal level in Congress, the polarization in Congress. I mentioned the fact that when I first started working in Congress, there was still this thing called a moderate, but it doesn’t seem to exist anymore. There were people who could work across the aisle, and work together on issues, and we’ve sort of lost that. It’s been polarized. And that we have the opportunity to work on the local level, still, to work on issues without ideology.
MB: I would say that the problem is that a lot of the Democrats have compromised too much, and they haven’t been courageous enough to stand up to the principles…
DN: I agree with you. I agree with you.
MB: And that’s what’s caused the problems. Not that we need more moderates or compromisers.
DN: I agree with you; that’s not what I said at the time.
MB: Well, that’s exactly how you positioned yourself on that issue.
DN: No, the question was about…
MB: And I thought that was very interesting.
DN: The question was about that there was no dialog happening, it was just partisan warfare.
MB: And you have criticized me for doing things that, in fact, you don’t know about. In terms of me meeting with the mayor. You have no idea of my track record. You have never spoken to me about that. But that doesn’t stop you from going out and making these grandiose statements, David. So it goes both ways.
DN: No, it’s fine. But I don’t say, quote Michael said quote this…
MB: No, you said ‘Michael didn’t do this’ or ‘Michael didn’t do that.’
DN: And that’s fairly easy to document.
MB: Well, no, it isn’t.
DN: I think it is, actually.
MB: You can’t document my meetings with the mayor.
DN: Well, I think I can document the fact that issues happened while you were the leader of the City Council that I think you have to take responsibility for as a city councilor…
MB: I certainly do, and I did at the time.
DN: Okay. I just think people need to look at our records and how we’ve conducted ourselves, and that’s fine. The idea of attributing quotes to people: I don’t think that’s a fair process.
