Fairfield Pol Apologizes For Deleted Whac-A-Mole Facebook Post: Update

FAIRFIELD, CT — A deleted Facebook post by Democratic Board of Finance member Kevin Starke — which used violent Whac-A-Mole imagery — to criticize Republican Town Committee Chair Sarah Matthews has led to calls for Starke to resign.

In the post, Matthews's head is shown twice, one of which depicts her being struck with a mallet. The text in Starke's post reads as follows:

“Let’s play Sarah Matthews whackamole,” Starke wrote. “Sarah, who ran for the RTM in the Beach area but lost, is head of the town Republicans and, boy, has she been busy writing letters to the Patch. First, the town budget was a partisan affair, and I felt moved to call her out. This week she’s saying that moving district polling places is totally partisan, even though the town Democratic and Republican registrars had already agreed on 13 of the 17 districts. Thank you Sarah for keeping us Democrats busy unspinning your spin. Your career in PR and marketing is serving you well. Meanwhile, the rest of us will just be over here, actually running the town government, where, mostly, the parties agree on things.”

Patch learned of the post by Fairfield resident Joanne Romano Csonka, who ran unsuccessfully for state representative in 2020. She wrote the following in calling for Starke to resign:

"Kevin Starke, a democrat on the Board of Finance, needs to resign. His pattern of inappropriate behavior is simply untenable, demeaning to the public office he holds, and is just simply embarrassing for Fairfield.

"Mr. Starke aggressively cursed at Chris Dewitt in the driveway of Mr. Dewitt’s home (you can read the police report on file). Mr. Starke aggressively demeaned Former Ethics Commissioner Jan Carpenter in social media posts, and he hasn’t stopped — his belittling name calling continues today. He accused the First Selectwoman of 'bending over' for FEMA, a vulgar term for an elected official to use in a public meeting. He called a fellow BOF member a financial imbecile, in a public meeting. And now, this morning, he posted a graphic of the Chairwoman of the RTC being hit on the head with a hammer in a not funny depiction of whack-a-mole.

"Insinuating violence, name calling, cursing, vulgarity are all inappropriate. Mr. Starke, please resign from the BOF; your lack of self control makes you unfit to serve in office."

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Reached by Patch Thursday night, Starke did not indicate any plans to resign, and questioned why Patch was writing about it.

"Republican women in Fairfield politics are behaving according to a double standard," Starke wrote in an email. "Sarah Matthews can spew untruths through the Patch, but when I call her out for playing games with town politics, I’m accused of being a misogynist. What if she was a man? Meanwhile she’s the local leader of a party that is about to take away women’s right to choose. I just don’t get it."

In a subsequent message, he wrote the following:

"But honestly I hate that all you do is report on the sensational stuff instead of actually diving into issues. I’ve made things too easy for you. You should expect more from yourselves."

He also questioned the newsworthiness of the story, and why Patch would "elevate that to a groundswell."

"Jesus you need a filter," Starke wrote. "You need standards."

On Friday, Starke posted a lengthier response to the situation on his Facebook page that included an apology for the original post:

"So, apparently the whackamole meme I posted for about 8 minutes yesterday got picked up by some Republican operatives and put in Patch today. I took it down a few minutes after posting it because I knew it would be deliberately [misconstrued], and didn't add enough to my point to be worth the heat it would take. It was basically a political cartoon, an exercise of free speech, but the deliberate misconstruction by sanctimonious, holier-than-thou people in the Republican Party says it was misogynous and violent. Ironically by publishing it they have given it a far wider audience than the 150 followers my Facebook page has, although the Patch probably only has an audience of about 50 hyper-politicized individuals who use it as a quasi-journalistic boxing ring (with absolutely no editorial filter to speak of). The actual intention was to [criticize] the incessant malevolent letters to the editor from the Town Republican Chair Sarah Matthews, who turn after turn impugns the motives of elected Democrats in town bodies. Whackamole is a GAME, not violence, and the point was that Ms. Matthews takes all of our decisions as a game, belittling the hard work a lot of us are actually doing. Apparently she can pitch in a game of hardball but she can't catch. And no one, Democrat or Republican, likes when someone is as outspoken as I am. So I apologize for any misconception of my intention. Like other political cartoons, it was perhaps a bit sophomoric. I hope the critics out there feel energized to write letters to the editors of all publications that publish cartoons they don't like. This political correctness is not surprising from Democrats but it is surprising from Republicans, and is one of many reasons why our town bodies were devoid of party politics in the first place. But, alas, Independents have very little chance of winning elected office in this town."

Patch reached out to Matthews Thursday, who called the matter unfortunate, adding that Stark should consider resigning.

"It is very unfortunate that an elected official in our town would take the time to create an inflammatory facebook post that included a graphic reflecting violence against a woman (in this case, me) in response to a release I posted on behalf of the Republican Town Committee," Matthews wrote in an email.

She added, "We, as Fairfield Republicans, send releases based on facts, the rule of law and how elected officials voted, which we believe is important for residents to know.

"We don’t engage in character attacks, and I think it speaks volumes about the differences in the leadership of the local parties.

"Mr. Starke’s behavior speaks for itself, and unfortunately this isn’t the first time he has behaved inappropriately. Frankly, it is a stain on all elected officials who should be held to a higher standard of conduct. Local registered democrats and democrat elected officials should demand better.

"I believe he needs to seriously reflect on his actions over the last few months and think about resigning."