Councilwoman's comments on sexism stir up opinions in Hamilton

Article here. Excerpt:

'A Hamilton councilwoman’s comments about sexism at Tuesday’s meeting have some politicians explaining, and one resident calling for her resignation.

While voting in favor of a salary ordinance that included a raise for newly elected Mayor Kelly Yaede, Councilwoman Ileana Schirmer said individuals who opposed the increase may be chauvinists because the mayor is a woman.

“When the previous mayor was there, Councilman Meara voted to give that mayor a raise, and then all that junk happened, and they rescinded it, rightfully so. If you go to the council meeting, you can see a pattern; everything the mayor proposes, Councilman Meara goes against,” Schirmer said Wednesday.
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The councilman said he is not opposed to pay increase ordinances, but that he didn’t vote for this one because Yaede is newly elected and it is not during the budget process.

“She did it in the week before Christmas when no one is paying attention. For Bencivengo’s, we did this in March, during the budget process,” Meara said.

Former Councilman Vincent Capodanno, who was not in attendance for the comments but heard about them at a later date, is calling for Schirmer to either apologize or resign.

“She needs to apologize to the men of this town. It’s a disturbing remark from someone who is supposed to respect all genders and all races. If that was me calling someone a feminist for questioning a male’s pay increase, I would hear all about it,” Capodanno said.'