LEWISTON, Maine — Lewiston City Councilor Bret Martel says City Council President David Chittim called him directly after Martel criticized the council’s handling of the Ward 5 vacancy in comments attributed to him by The Maine Wire, and that the conversation quickly escalated from a dispute over free speech into an argument about the city charter, ethics rules, and even why Chittim does not recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Martel told The Maine Wire the call was prompted by his public remarks describing the council as a “kangaroo court” and suggesting “the fix was in” during the selection process that resulted in a 5-2 vote to appoint Chrissy Noble to the open Ward 5 seat.
According to Martel, Chittim opened the conversation by saying he wasn’t trying to infringe on Martel’s First Amendment rights, but warned that Martel’s criticism was “conduct unbecoming,” could violate the council’s ethics policy, and might even expose him to liability because it cast the other councilors as having engaged in backroom dealing.
Martel said he pushed back immediately, telling Chittim his remarks were opinion based on what he observed from his seat on the dais and were protected speech, and that disagreement with the council president doesn’t automatically transform criticism into an ethics complaint.
Martel said he also told Chittim the real “bad reflection” wasn’t a councilor speaking candidly to the press, but the council president publicly floating the idea that the council should ignore Lewiston’s charter, the city’s governing rule book that councilors swear an oath to uphold whether they like it or not.
Martel said Chittim did not deny the oath point but repeatedly urged him to read the ethics policy and “consider carefully” how he speaks to reporters in the future, framing it as part of Chittim’s job as council president to police internal conduct and protect the council’s reputation.
But Martel said the call took a sharper turn when Martel began questioning Chittim about symbolism and loyalty, asking why Chittim doesn’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance at council meetings and, in Martel’s telling, pressing him with questions such as where his “allegiances” lie and what standard he is “up there representing.”
Martel said that Chittim, answered that he stands respectfully, for the pledge but does not recite words he considers meaningless, citing his objections to “one nation under God,” his view that the country does not have “liberty and justice for all,” and his belief that pledging allegiance to an inanimate objects and by extension “the republic for which it stands”, makes little sense. Martel also said that Chittim said, “he didn’t believe in God.”
Martel said he then returned to the central point of the broader dispute: the city charter.
In the call, Martel said Chittim acknowledged he had not read the charter before taking the oath to uphold it, an admission Martel says underscores why council leadership should be more careful, not less, about telling the public the council can pick and choose when to follow the governing document.
Martel said Chittim defended his prior comments by arguing the vacancy provision is flawed and internally inconsistent, and that he believes it unfairly disenfranchises Ward 5 voters, but Martel told The Maine Wire that even if councilors believe the charter needs changes, the oath requires them to follow it until it is amended.
Martel told the Maine Wire, “The council president may want to remember that we are peers. I don’t respond kindly to thinly veiled threats of libel and baseless accusations of ethical violations,” Martel said. “His disproval of my opinion has no bearing on my right to share it.”
Martel also added, “I’m just sick and tired of hearing words on the dais like transparency and integrity. I actually provide some of it, and the public keeps demanding it. I won’t be intimidated into going along to get along. If the council is worried that my calling out their behavior will reflect poorly on the city, they might want to act in a more transparent and honest manner.”
“Councilor Chittim should know that I find his behavior unbecoming.”
Council President Chittim returned the Maine Wires’ phone call about this article Friday morning and replied “he had no comment.”
