NEW BRITAIN – Former Republican Mayor Timothy Stewart stepped down as chair of the city School Building Committee as pressure mounted against him from both council Democrats and some residents who were outraged at a racist comment he made on Facebook.  

Before the Common Council meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 25, a resolution proposed by council Democrats which demanded the removal of the former mayor from the School Building Committee was withdrawn after he had agreed to resign voluntarily.  

During the public participation portion of the meeting, several residents spoke out against Timothy Stewart, who is the father of Mayor Erin E. Stewart. One of them was Aimee Pozorski, an English professor at Central Connecticut State University, who said she was disappointed in Mayor Stewart for not speaking out against her father’s comment. 

“I think it is important now, more than ever, to speak against racism when we see it,” Pozorski said. “I’m extremely disappointed that our own city’s leader could not find it in herself to denounce racism so close to her home.” 

According to NBC Connecticut, Timothy Stewart responded to a Facebook post about the Trump campaign’s allegations that Haitian immigrants were eating house pets in Ohio. After the original poster wrote, “So far they are leaving the dogs alone,” Stewart replied, “Need to bring in some Asians for that” with a laughing emoji.  

Another resident who spoke at the meeting, Bill Shortell, called Timothy Stewart a “blight” on New Britain and said that the rise of woke has allowed people to push back against racist jokes and comments.  

“Until very recently, there was a perfect division in our country between people who thought ethnic slurs were funny… and thought that’s how you make friends, even with the other ethnicity, by insulting them and they were supposed to laugh at it,” Shortell said. “With the growth of what’s known as ‘woke,’ we’ve been pushing that back. Woke means awake, conscious of the words that you say and the things that you do, the impact that it has on all the people around you. Tim Stewart was an enemy of woke.” 

Shortell added that he believed the reason Timothy Stewart was comfortable enough to comment publicly on social media was because he felt protected by Mayor Stewart.  

“Those remarks would have gone unnoticed in a bar, his buddies would have probably chuckled, but it’s almost official suicide that drove him to put it on Facebook,” Shortell said. “I can’t imagine what made him think that, except that he thought he’d be continually protected by his daughter.” 

 Mayor Stewart declined to speak with reporters after the Common Council meeting and the mayor’s press secretary could not comment.  

 Alderwoman Sharon Beloin-Saavedra, a Democrat endorsed by the Republican Party, said that while she condemned the racist comments made by the former mayor, she felt that Republicans were being unfairly targeted.  

 “I will say that it doesn’t matter what political affiliation you are with, people make bad choices and use bad and poor language, misguided language at times,” Beloin-Saavedra said. “I don’t accept the commentary about ‘It’s a Republican thing,’ it’s not a Republican thing, it’s people making bad comments.” 

 Beloin-Saavedra added that she believed Democrats were engaging in selective outrage, using the example of a 2014 incident when, according to the Associated Press, a former Democratic leader of the Common Council was involved in a drunken outburst against Mayor Stewart and made homophobic comments at a local bar. Despite the incident, the individual remained on the council as an alderman.   

 “For those of you who are celebrating tonight, you should have been celebrating when that gentleman should have been removed from the council for his outrageous behavior,” Beloin-Saavedra said. “I condemn it all. I do not engage in selective outrage, neither should you.” 

 Alderwoman Candyce Scott, a Democrat, said that comments, such as the one made by Timothy Stewart, were unacceptable from elected or appointed individuals, and that she believed it was time to have a conversation about racism.  

 “I’m glad that he stepped down, but I think that this is a great time for us to start having conversations about how this is happening because this is happening over and over again, nationwide and locally,” Scott said. “This kind of divisive speech towards any group should never be acceptable from an elected or appointed official. If we don’t stand for what is right here, then we’re just as guilty as the people who are displaying these actions towards any race, any ethnic group, any religion, and any gender.” 

Timothy Stewart could not be reached for comment.  

Chike Onyiuke contributed to this story.