NEW BERLIN — New Berlin Mayor Dave Ament was met with a packed room Tuesday night during the Committee of the Whole meeting, where many people held signs calling for his resignation. One sign read, “The city deserves better.”
Ament, who has faced criticism over shared social media posts, made a brief statement before leaving for the remainder of the Committee of the Whole meeting and the following Common Council meeting.
Ament said the Muslim-related content was shared on his personal Facebook page and not on any official city social media accounts.
“They were never meant to represent the city, the council, or staff. I take full responsibility for sharing them. I unfortunately did not take into account how these inappropriate quotes could be insulting, offensive, and hurtful, and I should have. As you can imagine, I have received a great deal of comments on email and phone messages. I have read and listened to every one of them. All were very informative and thought-provoking,” Ament said.
Ament then quoted one comment he received.
“No elected official should promote or incite hostility, hatred, or division against any faith, community, or individual. You have a responsibility. Now, this is addressed to me. You have a responsibility to promote respect and unity within the community. Your posts demonstrate a serious lack of judgment, leadership, and maturity-they are deeply troubling and undermine the trust that comes with your position. You are entrusted with representing the entire community,” he said.
Ament requested that people be respectful to city staff and Common Council members, saying they played no part in the controversy.
“I have regularly asked myself and others how we can bring people together to successfully discuss issues we disagree on and find a solution we can so we can all move on rather than being part of the solution and promoting dialog on issues that we all care about. I unfortunately contributed to the division. For this, I am sincerely sorry for the division that I heard I have caused many of you and in our community,” Ament said.
Ament also noted the resolution on the agenda pertaining to him.
“But because the issue that I am the subject of is on tonight’s agenda, I will now respectfully step aside and ask the council president to call the meeting to order and chair the meeting,” he said.
Resolution on religious freedom
The resolution concerning religious freedom was approved by both the Committee of the Whole and the Common Council.
The resolution condemns content that makes Muslims, women or other groups feel unwelcome because of religion, race, ethnicity, sex or background. It clarifies that Ament’s posts were not created, approved or endorsed by the Common Council, city departments or employees.
The resolution acknowledges Ament’s right to personal expression while noting that his role as mayor carries additional responsibilities and that his conduct can affect public trust and the city’s reputation.
The Common Council cannot remove an elected mayor and would require a formal state legal process to do so. Residents also have the right to pursue a recall.
No members of either body spoke regarding the resolution or provided commentary.
Public comment
Due to the number of people waiting to speak, the Council extended the time allotted for public comment.
Janan Najeeb, executive director of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, spoke about several women who had contacted her organization regarding Ament’s posts on his public Facebook page.
“It is incredibly hard to believe that absolutely no one in City Hall, was aware of these hateful, offensive posts, promoting not only violation of the constitutional rights of Muslims, but effectively endorsing violence through the reposting of misinformation and bigotry. These are not posts that just showed up over the course of one day or week, Mayor Amends Facebook consistently showed us who he really is over months, possibly years,” Najeeb said.
Fauzia Qureshi, executive director of the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance, said the resolution does not repair the harm caused.
“The Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance has circulated a petition calling for Mayor Ament’s resignation. Hundreds of people from New Berlin and across Wisconsin have signed it. They are asking this council not to dismiss this as a private matter or public political disagreement. This is a matter of public trust,” Qureshi said.
Ann Herrera Ward, a New Berlin resident, questioned why Ament did not remain for public comments.
“I’m here, standing here before you, telling you why Mayor Ament’s apology doesn’t match up to the components of a decent apology. First of all, you want to acknowledge the harm caused and you want to listen. Where is Mayor Ament right now? Why did he leave this room? He has people here that are telling him what kind of harm was caused and how it was caused. Where is he,” Ward said.
Ward added that an apology should “speak from the heart, not from the podium.”
Maqsood Khan, who attended the meeting in medical scrubs, said he has been serving the community for more than 12 years.
“Although are only 1.5 percent of the population of the United States, 10 percent of the physicians belong as Muslims as such. We are highly educated community. Just a FYI to the mayor, if he hasn’t had a colonoscopy done, whether you are a Muslim, whether you’re a Christian, whether you’re a Jew, everybody is pink inside. Please get a colonoscopy done and stop posting these racist and bigoted posts,” he said.
At one point, there was a commotion in the hallway after a man allegedly brought bacon into the meeting and was confronted.
A speaker called him out, indicating the stunt was “so stupid.”
“We love pigs, we just don’t eat the bacon. It’s in the Old Testament. Go learn your own religious literature,” she said.