We know things are bad at City Hall, but last week Friday, they took a sharp turn for the bizarre...when two councillors came within inches of getting into a physical confrontation. We have pieced together events from a number of different sources and here’s what happened. Councilor Roger Espejo accused fellow councillor Wayne Usher of an act of impropriety.
Usher – as they say – “gone da hundred” – and cursed out Espejo for imputing on his good name. But Espejo didn’t back down and cursed right back at him. Usher, we are told, then escalated the shouting match by making direct threats against Espejo – warning him that if he persisted, physical harm would come to him. Espejo didn’t back down – and Usher stormed out of the room – only to return a short while later with what are described to us by multiple sources – as three “thugs” who were there to make good on Usher’s threat.
From there, it escalated and got so heated that Councillor Dean Samuels – we are told – had to get in the middle of the two and council security had to be called to escort Usher’s men out of the council conference room.
Sounds crazy, but it’s true. Councillor Espejo had very little to say about it when we contacted him today, only that meetings are sometimes emotional and that there are differences of opinion. He said three of Usher’s laborers were in the room. Councillor Wayne Usher was far more candid, in fact he was still angry when we spoke to him this afternoon. He told us that councillor Espejo made a baseless and malicious allegation and he is still owed an apology for it.
Usher agrees that he accosted Espejo and cursed him out, and threatened him, and was going to carry out his threat, all because he says he has to defend his good name that Espejo tried to destroy on a whim. Usher told us, “My integrity is on the line; I won’t let anyone fool with me and question my integrity; my name is my life and I will defend it.” Usher said he would have preferred to keep the matter intra-council but he spoke out plainly, because, again, his name is on the line.
There has been talk that Espejo was considering making a criminal complaint, but when he spoke to us, that was not the indication. Quite incredibly, after all that happened on Friday, the meeting continued and Usher cooled off, and, he says, at the request of the mayor and others, returned to the meeting. The council meets again tomorrow and riot gear is optional.
