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Date: 10/25/2022
HOLYOKE – In an effort to have the city’s Law Department further review the provision of the city charter that was used in an attempt to unseat him, Ward 2 City Councilor Wilmer Puello-Mota failed in his efforts as he awaits prosecution on child pornography and other charges in Rhode Island.
The order was filed by Puello-Mota along with Ward 5 Councilor Linda Vacon during the Oct. 18 meeting and sought clarity on the City Charter rule that allows for removal of a councilor convicted of a crime. Specifically, the councilors were interested if the rule would apply to incumbent councilors previously convicted of crimes.
In a 7-6 vote, the order failed, but not before much discussion amongst the council and concerns of personal attacks.
“These are malicious. These are a waste of this body’s time. We have so much to do in this city,” said Ward 6 Councilor Juan Anderson-Burgos, who had personal legal issues over two decades ago. “I personally, since I’ve gotten elected, not once, not ever, have I ever filed an order, that would kick someone while they’re down or remind them of their past mishaps.”
Anderson-Burgos said he believed the move was directed at him and At-Large Councilor Israel Rivera, who had also been incarcerated close to 15 years ago. Rivera said he felt like he was being attacked although Puello-Mota argued the move was not personal toward any of his fellow councilors.
Rivera sought out to reject the orders filed as he felt they were a deflection and a waste of time and not necessarily based on city business but based on personal attacks and trying to deflect from “circumstances or situations that particular people are going through in the moment, which I do not want to speak on.” He added he uses his past experiences in his position on the council to help build up the community.
“This isn’t an attack on anybody, and I think it’s definitely not defamation, and it has everything to do with the council. If there’s people that aren’t supposed to be on the council and there’s votes that are taken into account, people can probably sue again,” said Puello-Mota. “There’s a lot of votes getting taken and if people aren’t supposed to be here – I mean hello, nobody had any problem when I ‘wasn’t supposed to be here’ so I don’t understand why all of a sudden, we’re upset about these orders that make perfect sense.”
During discussion Vacon compared the treatment Puello-Mota had received while his criminal case is pending to a “modern-day lynching without the rope.” Vacon brought the discussion to the council along with Puello-Mota as she felt the city’s law department may have been wrong to invoke the City Charter rule that attempted to unseat Puello-Mota.
Vacon noted that when the Legal Department decided to make the move to unseat Puello-Mota, they did not receive the council’s consent.
“We would have all benefitted from an interpretation of the charter prior to any action being taken that led to everyone one of us being sued,” Vacon said. “It is fair and good government to get in writing and on the table, what is our interpretation of our charter. I seek common understanding.”
At-Large Councilor Kevin Jourdain said he would be “naïve” not to consider the order a form of retaliation from Puello-Mota but also felt this was the only way to carry out the discussion as Puello-Mota could not seek the Law Department’s legal opinion on behalf of the council. He added that he felt if he were in a position where he felt he was being unlawfully removed, he too would be feeling the need to bring up the question.
“Before we get too high on our horses here about everybody’s feelings, that occurred and has still been not discussed. I’ve never seen anything in 25 years look like that. I ask questions, I’m still at a loss,” Jourdain said.
“This is the process from my understanding, that’s what I followed. This could apply to me in the future or anybody else in the future. This isn’t an attack on anybody specifically. If somebody is convicted in the future and they want to run for City Council, they have a right to know of whether or not they can sit on the council. I think it’s a very good question to ask,” said Puello-Mota. “The hypocrisy by some people is just unbelievable.”
Rivera expressed more disappointment with what he considered an attack and added he felt some fellow councilors use his past as a way to attack him without acknowledging who he is today and his accomplishments since his mistake as a young man.
“I use it [past incarceration] to help build up my community. Like you guys often so mention, we are a poor community, and poor communities faced a lot of the strife that I faced as a youth growing up. Yeah, I went to prison for five years, I came out. I also went to HCC, graduated. Y’all failed to mention that. UMass graduate, y’all failed to mention that. I’m going to Westfield State to get my masters, y’all failed to mention that,” said Rivera. “From day one I’ve been getting attacked. What happened for me, and my cases happened more than 10 years ago. I’m not hiding anything from anybody. I did my time and now I’m here. As an honest citizen that pays taxes and no longer lives in subsidized housing, that no longer has food stamps and pays for everything out of his own pocket,” Rivera said.
With all that being said, Rivera added he did not understand what the situation was and suggested this order was filed because “somebody got in trouble and got caught, and now they want to throw everybody else under the bus?
“Residents here can change their lives and become something different. I’m not supposed to be in this seat, but I am and there are people that are upset,” Rivera said.
Puello-Mota had his seat invoked by the City Charter to be expelled based on his criminal case in Rhode Island. In January the councilor was charged with possession of child pornography after a 17-year-old girl told police that the 26-year-old councilor was her “sugar daddy,” that they met online and that he had paid her for explicit videos.
Police found the images on his phone after he reported it stolen from his motel. He maintained to police that he thought the girl was over 22 years old but later learned of her real age. He was charged and released on bail, but a subsequent arrest in May in Rhode Island led to the bail from his first arrest being revoked, giving him 90 days in jail that went into August.
Puello-Mota has since filed a civil lawsuit to retain his seat and a judge in Hampden Superior Court issued an injunction on Sept. 30 saying the city and its representatives could not prevent him from participating in City Council business unless a conviction is made.
Judge Michael K. Callan wrote in his decision that “Holyoke bears the burden of proving that Puello-Mota has been convicted of a crime” and that they had failed to meet that obligation.
The move filed by Puello-Mota and Vacon specially asked “that the legal department please give their interpretation of section 46 and provide an opinion on, ‘The conviction of the incumbent of any such office of a crime punishable by imprisonment shall operate to create a vacancy in the office held by him. Does this apply to convictions on incumbents prior to taking office?”
At-Large Councilor Tessa Murphy-Romboletti said she felt these actions by Puello-Mota and Vacon “feels spiteful” and this question could have been brought up via an email to save time during the council’s meeting.
“I ran for City Council to get things done. I’m super, super discouraged by the way this council has been treating each other, by the way we treat the public, by the way we treat department heads,” said Murphy-Romboletti.