Kabacinski censured after latest brush with law enforcement - C&G Newspapers
Screenshot captured from TV Warren meeting video
Warren City Council member detained by police in Detroit
WARREN — Warren City Councilman Eddie Kabacinski has been censured by his peers and suspended from his committee assignments for the alleged “misuse of his position” as a City Council member after yet another incident involving the police.
This time, Kabacinski was apparently taken into custody at the TCF Center, formerly Cobo Center, on Oct. 20, where he said he was trying to attend a public hearing of the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission.
Accompanied by a videographer, Kabacinski argued with Detroit Police after he was informed he could not enter the building without wearing a mask. Video of the recorded exchange was later posted on YouTube and appeared to show Kabacinski being escorted from the building in police custody.
During the encounter, Kabacinski told the police he is “retired law enforcement.” He also referenced his position as a Warren City councilman and that is what his fellow council member, Jonathan Lafferty, took issue with when he read the resolution to censure Kabacinski for “his misuse of his position as Warren City Council member” into the record during the City Council’s Oct. 26 meeting.
“It gives me no pleasure or personal gratification to have to read this,” Lafferty said after he read the resolution. “Mr. Kabacinski, I respect as a colleague, and as the resolution stated, I respect his free speech rights and I respect his opinions on all matters. That does not afford any of us at this table here or in our daily lives … to misrepresent the council nor take advantage of this office.
“This was a difficult decision. This was not something that I approached lightly but felt needed to be done,” Lafferty said.
Councilman Ronald Papandrea, who along with Kabacinski voted against the resolution, called the action “premature.”
“As far as I know, Mr. Kabacinski has not been convicted of anything, anywhere,” Papandrea said. “He deserves his day in court. He deserves a fair trial. I don’t think a legislative body should be intruding on judicial proceedings.”
Kabacinski addressed the situation in comments offered ahead of the vote. He claimed he was just attempting to attend a public meeting on behalf of his constituents and that the commission was “trying to bar conservatives” and Republicans from attending and “having a voice on redistricting.”
Public hearings of the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission are open to the public and the commission invites public participation in-person and remotely.
“I’m looking out for the people in my district that elected me to look out for their interests,” Kabacinski said.
He added, “When I identified myself as a city councilman, I was trying to communicate that I had legitimate business there dealing with the city of Warren, and not some bum off the street that was there in jeans and a T-shirt, looking for a warm place to be inside. It’s been quite cold lately.
“With that being said, there is no law that requires you to wear a mask. Mandates are not laws,” Kabacinski said.
COVID-19 protocols in place for each Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission meeting correspond to the requirements of each facility. According to its website, the TCF Center currently requires all guests to wear masks. On the video, Detroit police officers informed Kabacinski that he was free to enter, but that a mask was required because the facility is also a COVID-19 vaccination site.
Kabacinski ended his remarks by saying the council lacked the authority to remove him from the committees to which the members voted previously to appoint him.
“This is not Congress and I’m not Marjorie Taylor Green and you have no authority to strip me of any of my duties whatsoever,” Kabacinski said.
“I hope the residents are quite (expletive) off with what the council is doing. This is a lynching. That’s what this is. This is a public lynching of a public official that’s representing his constituents.”
Immediately after the vote, Warren City Council President Pat Green cited the council’s amended rules of procedure and notified Kabacinski that he was suspended from all committee appointments. No vote was taken, and Green said none was required.
Regarding the incident at the TCF Center, a Detroit Police Department source in the media relations office later confirmed only that Kabacinski was “detained” on Oct. 20. The Warren Weekly’s request for additional information and an update on the case status remained unanswered Oct. 28.
The incident was the latest in a string of brushes with law enforcement for the controversial councilman, elected in 2019 to represent Warren’s City Council District 5.
On Aug. 28, Kabacinski was arrested at a Donald Trump rally at the corner of Hall and Schoenherr roads in Utica for an unspecified violation of a city ordinance. In another YouTube video, Kabacinski said he was there with a “county vendor’s permit” for “Eddie’s Quality Merchandise,” setting up a tent and a table with Trump and “anti-Biden” merchandise. He was charged with a misdemeanor and the case remained pending in the 41-A District Court of Shelby Township. An arraignment/pretrial hearing was set for 2 p.m. Nov. 29, according to court records.
In September 2020, Kabacinski came under fire for taking part in a counter demonstration during a planned “March Against Racism” in Warren, organized by the South Warren Alliance for Radical Movement. Organizers said the march was held in support of a local Black family after their home was damaged by bricks, gunfire and graffiti in separate, but related incidents over several nights. At the time, Kabacinski said he was at the rally to support law enforcement. Photos from the event showed him with what appeared to be a holstered pistol on his hip, wearing military gear and holding a red “Make America Great Again” Trump flag as he gathered with a group of demonstrators on private property, on the opposite side of Hoover Road from those gathered for the march. The groups clashed briefly and minor skirmishes were reported that day. Kabacinski later said the pole of his flag was broken in the brief fracas.
In October 2020, Kabacinski was arrested by Eastpointe police after he allegedly handcuffed a woman who put “Black Lives Matter” stickers on a Trump sign at a pop-up rally in support of the former president. He was arraigned on charges of impersonating a public officer, a one-year misdemeanor, and assault and battery, a 93-day misdemeanor. That case remains pending and has been repeatedly adjourned, reportedly to accommodate Kabacinski’s request for a jury trial. The next scheduled hearing in that case is now set for Dec. 30, according to online records for that court.
Kabacinski was also named in two separate recall efforts, both of which failed.
The first was filed by former Warren City Councilman Robert Boccomino, with the support of a recall committee led by John Johnson, CEO of the Southeast Michigan Chamber of Commerce. Johnson said previously that Kabacinski was targeted for recall because he was in the “weakest” position politically of the five Warren City Council members who voted against a proposed settlement and consent judgement in a lawsuit brought against the city by a group of hopeful medical marijuana dispensary operators. The petition was approved by a 2-1 vote of the Macomb County Election Commission, but died after organizers failed to get the required number of signatures necessary to place the recall question on the ballot in the timeframe allowed.
A second petition, filed by Bridget Quinn, a member of the SWARM group, sought to recall Kabacinski for his alleged action at the rallies in Warren and Eastpointe, and for his comments at a September 2020 meeting of the Warren City Council, where he claimed the organizers of the march were “affiliated with terrorist organizations.” The language of Quinn’s proposal was rejected by a 2-1 vote of the Election Commission.
source: https://www.candgnews.com/news/kabacinski-censured-after-latest-brush-with-law-enforcement--121966
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.