TRENTON – Councilwoman Robin Vaughn exploded Saturday during city officials’ daily coronavirus briefing accusing another legislator of sucking Mayor Reed Gusciora’s “d**k.”
Vaughn’s homophobic diatribe didn’t stop there as she lashed out at Trenton’s first openly gay mayor, calling him a “pedophile” during a minuteslong meltdown, according to officials who were on the call.
Gusciora confirmed Vaughn’s use of the homophobic slur and said the briefing “got out of hand.”
Some of Vaughn’s rhetoric on these calls had actually gotten her banned from them but she was let back on and then this happened.
(Editor’s note: The arguing begins around 19 minutes in, but becomes more heated around 22:50)
“It has no place in public discourse,” the mayor told The Trentonian. “I think we would have learned the lesson with the ‘Jew-ing down’ comment. She has no ability to have public discourse with other governmental leaders. It got extremely personal and was completely uncalled for.”
The homophobic slur was directed at East Ward councilman Joe Harrison, because he stood up for Gusciora on the call.
Vaughn has openly questioned Gusciora’s leadership throughout his term and suggested he’s a one-term mayor. Some city insiders believe Vaughn plans to challenge Gusciora if he runs for a second term in the 2022 municipal election.
She backed legislation to change the way the city conducts its elections, which one councilman suggested was her way of attempting to ease her path to victory.
If anyone would consider voting Vaughn in as mayor, Harrison said they should think again.
Officials were having a discussion about Community Development Block Grants.
At one point, Gusciora and Vaughn, who did not respond to a phone call seeking comment, were bantering back and forth about the councilwoman’s slam of “do-nothing organizations” Trenton is paying during the coronavirus pandemic when things turned personal.
Harrison backed up the mayor and that’s when he found himself in Vaughn’s cross-hairs.
He confirmed she told him that he “sucks the mayor’s d**k,” calling on her to step down as West Ward councilwoman over her “unbelievably homophobic” comments.
“I could hear people in the background going, ‘Oh, my god.’ The stuff that’s coming out her mouth. She should step down. She’s an embarrassment. Anybody who is going to support her should think twice.”
Gusciora said he returned G-rated salvos, telling the councilwoman she was acting childish.
Harrison said the councilwoman went on to take jabs at his family.
Several city officials said Vaughn called Harrison’s mother a “whore” and claimed his father was a deadbeat and suggested Trenton officials were a bunch of “b**ches.”
Council president Kathy McBride tried to get control of the meeting, but it was too far gone.
“She went on a 20-plus member dress down,” Gusciora said.
Harrison called on the city to release the tape of the conference call so the public has a full understanding of what went down.
The Trentonian has put in a formal request for it under the Open Public Records Act.
Conference calls are closed to the public, Gusciora said. The Trentonian is aware of at least four council members who were on the meeting, along with the mayor and members of his cabinet, making for a quorum.
The newspaper raised the issue of a potential Open Public Meetings Act with the mayor since it appears city business was addressed on the call.
Gusciora said the conference calls are supposed to be “one-way conversations” in which council members are given the latest numbers on virus infections and deaths and the administration addresses public safety.
But he acknowledged they’ve turned into full-blown discussions sometimes, with council members asking questions.
Gusciora, an attorney, conceded a possible “de minimis” violation of the OPMA. But he stressed the bigger point of Vaughn’s homophobic tirade.
“It was just awful. She went on a complete stream of consciousness tirade. It’s disconcerting. She is just determined to bang on as many keys as possible and disrupt city business,” said Gusciora, who is used to being called names.
Former Gov. Chris Christie once called the ex-assemblyman “numbnuts” when they publicly feuded over same-sex marriage legislation.
Gusciora said he considered that insult a “term of endearment.” Not so much the case with Vaughn’s vicious volley.
This isn’t not the first time the West Ward councilwoman has been off her rocker.
She’s attacked past and current members of Gusciora’s cabinet, and at one point was on the outs with almost every person on council leading The Trentonian to playfully dub her “Radioactive Robin.”
Later, she found herself in hot water for defending council president McBride’s use of a anti-Semitic slur.
McBride claimed during a Sept. 5 executive session that a city attorney was “her down,” referring to a woman’s settlement in a personal injury lawsuit.
Vaughn suggested the phrase wasn’t offensive but rather “to Jew someone down is a verb.”
The Gusciora administration even took her and council president McBride to court over some of their actions and won an abuse-of-power decision.
Not even Judge Mary Jacobson’s ruling deterred Vaughn. And the administration filed court papers asking Jacobson to enforce her ruling.
As the nonsense and toxic rhetoric continues, Gusciora said he’s at his breaking point with the West Ward leader.
“I think if she can’t deal as an adult with other city leaders, it’s time that she step down,” he said. “It was just beyond how anyone would expect rational city actors to behave.”
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include the audio recording of the call in question after The Trentonian was able to obtain a copy of the file.
