Schools
Brookfield School Board Candidate-Elect Faces Resignation Calls After Newtown Patch Comment
Comment voicing a pro-gun sentiment on Sandy Hook anniversary post has stirred up calls for Greg Beck to step down.
A Brookfield Party (ABP) candidate-elect for the Board of Education (BOE) Greg Beck’s comment on a Facebook link to a Newtown Patch post about the anniversary of the Dec. 14, 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary has led to calls for Beck to step down before taking office — calls from residents, outgoing BOE members and local Republican leadership.
In the comment, in reference to a post asking readers to practice 26 Days of Kindness, Beck wrote, “I shall buy my friends who are gun enthusiasts a box of ammunition on days 1-26.”
The comment [see above] was removed Tuesday afternoon.
The Republican Town Committee (RTC) released a statement Tuesday night asking for Beck’s resignation.
“The Brookfield Republican Town Committee strongly condemns the statements made by Greg Beck on Facebook on 11/19/13 and requests that he step down from the Board of Education in light of making them,” according to the statement sent from RTC Secretary Matt Grimes and Cc’d to Chairman Marty Flynn and Vice Chairman Greg Dembowski.
Beck said Tuesday night that he would issue a statement on Wednesday.
ABP Chairman Rob Gianazza defended the candidate on Patch while condemning the comment as a mistake.
“Greg made a Facebook post expressing his frustration at the anti-gun antagonists, not at the people of Newtown,” Gianazza wrote. “Does Greg owe an explanation of his post and to own it? You bet, and I will encourage him to do just that. Will I ask him to step down? Not in this lifetime.”
A post on by Glenn Brown on the Brookfield Patch Speak Out board asked if Beck should be responsible for Brookfield children and linked to another post stating that he should be removed from office.
“I think it displays a serious lack of judgment,” poster Ignorance_is_Dangerous commented, “one so major that it does call into question if he is someone we want representing the views and sentiments of Brookfield — specifically regarding children & education.”
Outgoing BOE Chairman Ray DiStephan called the comment, “absolutely inexcusable,” twice, using all caps the second time.
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Read more comments on the Brookfield Patch Speak Out board.
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