SPRINGFIELD — Mayor Domenic J. Sarno concedes that, in hindsight, he probably should have realized on-duty firefighters in full uniform with a ladder truck parked outside did not belong at a political fundraiser for City Council candidate Chris Pohner.
“It just didn’t dawn on me at the time,” Sarno told reporters and editors at The Republican Tuesday. “I was there for five minutes on my way to Mass at Mount Carmel.”
Captured on video Sept. 18 at the Marconi Club in East Springfield, Sarno delivered a rah-rah speech for Pohner, a retired firefighter running for an at-large seat on the City Council, who held a pig roast that Saturday.
“You gotta run hungry. You gotta continue the pressure ... Until you deliver the knockout punch," Sarno said, feigning boxing moves to everyone’s delight.
The mayor, wearing shorts and a Springfield Fire Department t-shirt, added that he planned to say prayers for the “Chris Pohner brigade” at church.
The event took place several weeks before Pohner’s campaign was clouded by revelations that he made racist, homophobic and transphobic remarks on social media. First reported by local blogger Matt Szafranski on his site, Western Mass Politics and Insight, the posts include references to Springfield as “Mudville” and calling former First Lady Michelle Obama a “tranny.”
Once the social media remarks caught fire in local headlines, the fundraiser faux pas came back to haunt Sarno. The mayor responded by citing a hasty internal investigation launched by Fire Commissioner Bernard J. Calvi when the video became public.
“If they weren’t there on an official call, there will be consequences,” Sarno said Tuesday.
Although one of the firefighter’s alarms went off mid-speech and he quickly silenced it, the closest thing to something being ablaze — thus warranting the presence of on-duty firefighters — was the pork roasting just outside.
State’s campaign finance law bans the use of public resources for political campaigns, and bars public employees from spending time during working hours campaigning for candidates or ballot questions. An advisory from the State Ethics Commission warns that wearing an official uniform while engaging in political activity can be a violation of the conflict of interest law.
In an interview with The Republican last week, Pohner defended threatening comments he made about universal bathrooms for transgender people and maligning Obama, but suggested someone else hacked his social media and posted additional disparaging remarks.
“Ninety percent of what you are seeing there is not me," he told a reporter.
Pohner was the highest vote-getter among non-incumbents in the September primary. He came in fifth place behind four incumbents among a field of 11 candidates — even beating out former state Rep. Sean Curran, who is also running for an at-large seat. This is Pohner’s first bid for public office.
“First time out — helluva a run!” Sarno said during the brief speech at the Marconi Club.
During Tuesday’s interview at The Republican, Sarno said he was unaware of the remarks Pohner made on social media, and would not have supported his candidacy had he known.
“I would never align myself with anybody with those types of beliefs,” Sarno said.
The general election will take place on Nov. 5.