Mayor Wukela tells Ed to sit down & shut up

Florence Mayor Stephen Wukela has sat through plenty of City Councilman Ed Robinson's rants before. During Council meetings, Wukela has patiently waited for Ed's rants to run their course through the allotted time for debate then moved the council along to the votes. But apparently, Robinson's latest tirade regarding one of the city's cops was one tirade too many.


To hear Mayor Wukela's full comments, click here.

It is not my habit to respond to each of Councilman Robinson's rant's.
Frankly, it would consume all of my time if I did. However, Councilman
Robinson's latest statements require response...

As is city policy with every such incident, the State Law Enforcement
Division had taken over the investigation, at the city's request. The
perpetrator has been charged with a number of very serious crimes, including
assault and battery with intent to kill. He enjoys the presumption of innocence.
He will be provided a defense and he will have his day in court. The system is
working exactly as it should. Politics has no role, nor should it.

Unfortunately, yesterday, Councilman Robinson in political desperation seized
upon this incident as an opportunity to attack the police department and to
defame the office involved. Disturbingly, this blatant and reprehensible attempt
to score political points is councilman Robinson’s most recent political attack
on our police department, and as his political situation worsens, his
desperation and his attacks, increase.

I support our police department and I condemn Councilman Robinson's
statements.

Ed responded by saying something stupid. Seriously...feel free to watch his comments on WBTW. They're sad. Something about how I'm gonna fight for my constituency and if I look bad I look bad. Ed neglected to mention that if "his" constituency listened to him, how come they overwhelmingly elected Wukela mayor. That's right...despite Ed's exuberant endorsement of anyone other than Wukela (see Willis, Frank and Pearce, Rocky), "his" constituency ignored him. Perhaps it's because Ed doesn't really hold much sway with the district he represents. My favorite comment was how this is "related to Wukela's efforts to increase police presence: "he's throwing police after police out there giving these kids no other alternative."

See that red light flashing in the top left corner of your vision, Ed? It's your political career termination light. And it just went into overdrive.