A punch in the face
This story about a part time city employee being accused of slugging city recreation commissioner John D'Antonio in the face is odd enough. But the follow up quotes D'Antonio said to the TU's Jordan Carleo-Evangelist take it to a whole other level: "Anybody comes and does that to me again, job or no job, I'm going to put 'em in the morgue." [TU] [@JCEvangelist_TU] We had the city department on this incorrect originally. It's been fixed. Sorry about that.
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Comments
Sounds like a peach to work for.
... said Lola on Dec 21, 2012 at 4:11 PM | link
You wanna know how to run general services in Albany? They pull a letter of complaint, you pull a shredder. He sends one of yours to the file cabinet, you send one of his to the wastebasket. *That's* the *Albany* way! And that's how you run general services.
... said Bob on Dec 21, 2012 at 4:17 PM | link
This is a total shame! I know things can be off with some of our leaders and public servants, but this really burns me and I hope Jennings fires this idiot. It is one thing for tax payers to deal with colorful language from our public servants from time to time, but the fact that he is responsible for and closely associated to many of the City's youth programs and youth recreational opportunities makes this completely inappropriate and tells me he is unfit to serve in this capacity. If Jennings refuses to do the right thing, considering this guys a personal friend, I feel the Common Council has a real responsibility to step in and proactively address this and seek long term solutions to preventing this kind of incident in the future.
... said Rich on Dec 21, 2012 at 4:26 PM | link
John D'Antonio is the same official who threw the equipment of the long time concession stand proprietor at the Swinburne ice rink out on the street without due process after the man called in to Jenning's radio show to ask about the renewal of his contract. Seems like John D'Antonio is a hot head with his loose talk about putting someone "in the morgue" (now of all times!)
Jennings: get rid of this loser. I don't even know him, but he's an embarrassment to the city. (And what's with the nepotism that his brother is head of the DGS? You don't have enough choices of people to hire?)
The worker will clearly have to face the music, in the courts and no doubt department discipline, possibly termination, for socking D'Antonio , but it's the leadership behavior that is so troubling in our culture of violence.
... said chrisck on Dec 21, 2012 at 4:33 PM | link
Oh, man, I just read Jennings said he was "proud" of D'Antonio and are spinning it so he's some kind of hero against work place violence.
Time for a new mayor. Someone not part of the old Albany old boy network.
... said chrisck on Dec 21, 2012 at 5:22 PM | link
Both the print and online TU article leaves out the "morgue" quote. The official TU account offers a different picture without that quote. Why was that quote omitted from the article when it was tweeted by the reporter? The statement certainly provides some context and balance to the incident. I'm betting a nervous TU editor took a red pencil to the reporter's text. D'Antonio's quote is newsworthy and is not incidental in the reporting of the event.
... said chrisck on Dec 22, 2012 at 8:11 AM | link
Anyone who thinks Jennings would get rid of the guy has their head in the sand. This is one of the D'Antonio brothers. The other one is Nick. He runs the department of general services with a $50 million budget. Prior to that job he drove a truck. Apparently someone once heard him say he thought about going to college. He didn't. Why bother? He makes $90K a year.
You voted for this Albany. Own it.
... said Code Monkey on Dec 22, 2012 at 8:22 AM | link
This guy is a disgrace. He knows he is in the public eye and STILL says this?!?!?
... said John on Dec 24, 2012 at 9:45 AM | link