43
Campbell councilwoman will challenge mayor in November
CAMPBELL
Campbell Councilwoman Juanita Rich, D-4th, announced Friday she will run for mayor in the upcoming general election this November.
Rich has been a member of council for a cumulative 15 years and served as council president for one year.
She said while friends and constituents have encouraged her to run in the past, a recent confrontation between Mayor Nick Phillips and Councilman Bryan Tedesco, D-2nd, during a council caucus session pushed her to enter the race.
“What pushed me over the edge was when the mayor wrote the letter about Bryan. He disrespects the city council and hasn’t had respect for us as long as he’s been mayor. There’s no communication between the mayor’s office and council,” Rich said. “I think council and the mayor should be working together for the benefit of the city. I have good relationships with my fellow council members, and I believe we’d all work well together if I’m elected mayor.”
On April 17, Phillips issued a letter chastising Tedesco and read it during the caucus. In the letter, he accused Tedesco of “aggressively screaming at Finance Director Yianni Tiliakos in front of his subordinate Dina Hamilton over vacation time taken by city employees and made threats to the Finance Director that ‘he should start looking for another job’ indicating that you were going to have him fired.”
The letter also alleges that Tedesco “used racial slurs in the process of screaming at this employee” by calling Tiliakos “‘Super-Greek’ in a mocking and derisive tone.”
In the letter, Phillips said he questioned Tedesco’s “fitness to hold public office and suggest you resign from your seat as 2nd Ward Councilman immediately to seek whatever professional help you may require.”
Later that night, Tedesco defended himself and argued that he wasn’t threatening to fire Tiliakos but rather foreshadow what would happen to Tiliakos’ job if the city were to enter fiscal emergency and have its finances taken over by the state. He also apologized for any offense taken from his tone and his use of “Super-Greek,” which he and Rich both suggested wasn’t a pejorative.
“Being a councilman does not give him the right to harass or bully employees of the city, and I absolutely will not tolerate it. As you are aware, he threatened employees’ jobs, threatened to soil reputations and mocked employees’ heritages,” Phillips said. “This is unacceptable, and I stand by that letter and I will continue to stand up for anyone being treated with such disgrace.”