In telling councilman to ‘f--- off,’ Fresno mayor simply expressing how many feel
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer finally got so exasperated with Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld he did something a lot of people reading this can empathize with.
Dyer, earlier this week over the phone, told Bredefeld to “f– off.”
Bet that felt pretty good, Mr. Mayor.
Neither man would divulge specifics after the fact. Sontaya Rose, the city’s communications director, said Dyer apologized to Bredefeld for raising his voice. Bredefeld issued a statement calling their conversation “disturbing.”
The two were apparently squabbling about comments Bredefeld made to The Bee about Dyer’s initial support of Fresno’s inclusion in a pilot program that would permit alcohol sales until 4 a.m. Dyer is now against the idea.
I went back and read what Bredefeld said about Dyer, and yeah. Typical Garry, being a complete jerk for no reason except to self-aggrandize. No wonder Dyer was irate enough to utter a profanity for the first time in 30 years, according to Rose.
While striving for a higher level of discourse, there are times when I too have wanted to tell Bredefeld to “f— off.”
Several times, as a matter of fact.
But unlike Dyer and so many others with Fresno City Hall offices, I don’t have to work with the guy. Just occasionally comment about his antics.
Soon after the story about Bredefeld’s argument with Dyer appeared on fresnobee.com, Bredefeld seized the opportunity to show the world why he’s such a repulsive politician.
On his Twitter account Thursday afternoon, Bredefeld posted a photo of himself and Dyer sitting across a table from one another in a restaurant sipping iced tea. The two men are grinning, and in Bredefeld’s hand he’s holding up his phone with The Bee’s story of their disagreement displayed.
“@Mayor Jerry Dyer and I celebrating the @FresnoBee article stating we are at odds with each other,” Bredefeld wrote as a caption. “In reality, two passionate guys working hard to move the city forward.”
Only a story because Bredefeld blabbed
By making it sound to his followers that The Bee conjured up a fake story out of nowhere and everything between himself and Dyer is hunky dory, Bredefeld showed exactly the kind of person he is.
The kind that makes people want to tell him to f— off.
Let me explain exactly what transpired. After Dyer and Bredfeld argued Monday afternoon, Bredefeld blabbed about it to his colleagues. He even told at least two of them that Dyer physically threatened him, something Rose denies.
The story reached enough people’s ears that Brianna Vaccari, The Bee’s City Hall reporter, caught wind of it. Vaccari then contacted Bredefeld about what she’d heard. Bredefeld responded by issuing a statement that Vaccari used for her article.
If Bredefeld didn’t want the story getting out there, he could have issued a denial or not responded at all. But, of course, he didn’t. So to imply Vaccari conjured up fake news about a nonexistent argument is phoniness personified.
I can’t imagine Dyer is thrilled about his choice of words getting hung out on the public laundry line. One senior staff member told me the mayor issued a no-profanity policy soon after taking office. Whoops.
Under normal circumstances, it would be fair to criticize Dyer for letting the standards of decorum slip at City Hall. Not in this one. The f-bomb Dyer dropped on Bredefeld was both understandable, and overdue.
