City Council's MJ Tribute Draws Walkouts

The King of Pop's death and legacy was honored by the City Council today. But PolitickerNY, which took video (below), noticed that some City Council members walked out—Republicans Jimmy Oddo, Vinny Ignizio and Eric Ulrich and Democrats Peter Vallone Jr. and Lew Fidler—during fellow members Inez Dickens' and Helen Diane Foster's tributes.

Vallone joked that he left because he was looking for coffee while Fidler told PolitickerNY's Azi Paybarah, "Clearly his death is a tragedy, [but] I’m the chairman of the Youth Services Committee in the Council and the man was probably a serial pedophile, may have well died of a drug overdose," noting that as talented as Jackson was, he's not necessarily "a role model. While we can mourn his death I don’t know that standing up on the floor of the Council to pay tribute to a life I wouldn’t want my kids to aspire to was appropriate."

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By Jen Chung in News on June 30, 2009 5:46 PM

Comments [rss]

Tgirl

AGREE!!! enough already.

Solemn tributes and moments of silences need be reserved for those individuals whose creative or societal contributions are only exceeded by their exemplary example. Jacko was a very disturbed and disturbing person in that regard, and thus undeserving of such honors.

JenChungsBaby

SO we have the senate in Albany doing nothing for a month and now the Council wasting time on a tribute to Michael Jackson. Great.

Proof your work

Vallone joked that left because.....

Jen, please proof your work!

TT

this is why nothing gets done in goverment

synik

Just goes to show how few African American role models there are.

Snoopy

How about Rev Al and Rev Jesse? Along with Snoop Dog and Paxico and the dude with the dog fighting operation?

Kevin Bracken

#3: a preponderance of Greek philosophers, from whom we derive our laws, tolerate or even celebrate pederasty. Are they insane?

Fritzdecat

if you are kidding that is a bad joke if you are serious then you are an idiot

Clarice City

What a steaming crock of shit.

" I don’t know that standing up on the floor of the Council to pay tribute to a life I wouldn’t want my kids to aspire to was appropriate."

Well said.

Fritzdecat

"the man was probably a serial pedophile, may have well died of a drug overdose"

Exactly

When sane people talk about sexual liberites there usually is 0 tolerance for a pedophile

Madness

db

I understand...but disagree. Not the place city council.

CR

The fact that there was a moment of silence for this man is the the most *absurd* thing I've ever heard. Wouldn't this kind of thing need to be sanctioned by someone higher up, like, let's say... the mayor perhaps?

Truly ridicklessless.

longacre

This is the same body that threw a party for Robert Mugabe and where candidates now shoot at each other for putting up posters. A moment of silence for an insane pedophile is par for the course at City Hall.

And no, it would not have to be sanctioned by the Mayor.