Council Meeting Experiences Joe Wilson-esque Moment

The partisan bickering of Tuesday evening's Town Council meeting took an unusual twist when a town employee filming the meeting for TV-36 tried to shout down Democratic mayoral nominee Bill Brennan.

Brennan had taken to the microphone to critique Republican Mayor Andy Skibitsky's appointments to the town's "Green Team." Brennan has become a regular user of the public comments section of the Council meetings, saying that they are the only way he can communicate with Skibitsky. Environmental policy is a frequent area of Brennan's comments. Last night's debate, which dominated the meeting, apparently was enough for Kevin Sipe, who was filming the meeting.

"Can we get back to the meeting?" Sipe said, interupting Brennan's remarks.

Sipe's comments caught the entire Council chamber off guard with Council members and observers looking shocked at the outburst. The interruption reminded many of South Carolina U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson's shouting of "you lie" during President Obama's health care address to Congress last week.

Sipe's interruption of Brennan came moments after he had taken to the microphone himself to briefly address traffic flow concerns on North Avenue. These were the first times Sipe had spoken during a Council meeting.

In an interview following the Council meeting, Sipe said he has nothing against Brennan personally and only made his comments because he felt the Democrat has spent too much time talking about Green Team appointments and the environment during the meetings.

"This has been going on the past three to four months and it's inappropriate," Sipe said. "The issue is deader than dead."

Sipe said he enjoys the meetings for the ability to listen to various issues in town and wanted the process of government to move forward, not listen to a campaign-related debate.

Brennan said after the meeting that he does not have anything against Sipe and does not want to embarrass him. Town Administrator Jim Gildea said he will be working on the matter and will meet with Sipe about the outburst. Because Sipe was not wearing a microphone when he made his comments, it is unlikely they were picked up on tape. Gildea indicated the town will review the tape to see if Sipe's comments are audible.

"An inappropriate comment was made by a town employee and it's being dealt with," he said.