On April 14, the town council of Windsor convened a meeting to consider demanding the resignation of mayor Dominic Foppoli following allegations of sexual assault. You can read an accounting of the meeting here, but below we have presented, without comment, some of the statements of residents of Windsor and the greater county about Foppoli, the allegations or more. Commenters were not required to provide their full names, so in some cases the person identified will only be a first name or even a pseudonym. Presented below are excerpts from some of over 100 members of the public.
“Real men take responsibility for their actions, real men accept culpability for their actions. Strong people take responsibility … do the right thing Dominic. Man up, my dude. Resign.” -Steve Ward
“I’m a long-time Sonoma County teacher and mom calling on you to resign immediately. Sonoma County has been making headlines for wildfires and now for sexual predators and pedophiles. If you love this town, step down now. I stand with survivors, both anonymous and named … I support these woman and ask council to support them as well. Your statement to deflect blame to a female colleague is absolutely ludicrous and straight out of the guilty man’s handbook and in an attempt to humiliate her, you have only exposed own guilt, and lost the trust of the people.”-Dailela
“Oftentimes the worst and most evil monsters come in the guise of friends and allies. Regardless of the past, you no longer have our respect to lead this town. We no longer feel comfortable, and you must resign. But the council has not had the trust or confidence (of the town) for a long time. You continued to back this man knowing of rumors, so you all need to go. The town cannot heal unless you all go, and it needs to happen quickly.” -Cliff
“As a longtime resident of Windsor, I just feel in light of the situation, Dominic, you really need to step down. There’s a lot of powerful evidence here … and for the better of Windsor you really just need to step down. You need to take care of yourself, from things I’ve heard this is not something new, this is a long-term problem and you need to deal with it. But, it needs to be done away from Windsor.” -Jeff Church
“I just want to be heard and ask that you resign as mayor of our wonderful town. This is not a court of law or hearing, and I trust that law enforcement will do their job and you may face the consequences, but I’m here talking about our town and its best interest and if you do love Windsor then please do not drag us through a recall. It’s a waste of everybody’s time, effort and energy, and there is no hope for you to not get recalled. So, you’d drag us through the drama for own narcissistic and sociopathic reasons. Please go and get yourself some help.” -Amanda Mauer
“I’m a neighbor of yours, and there have been people in our neighborhood in front of your house and my child wants to know what’s going on. I’m having to have conversations with her about sexual assault. She’s 7 ½, that’s not OK … I feel like every member of council has failed us. Every single one. Sometimes the best thing as leader is to know what to step aside and let someone else lead … I’m asking all of you to do that.” -Tory Crowder
“I speak at almost every council meeting, but this is special (and) gives me great pain. You should be held to higher standard of trust, and that’s been violated. I have personally had Dominic abuse my trust by lying to my face on two occasions, and you will never get it back. If you love Windsor, you will resign, clear your name, allow trust to come back. I stand with survivors, I stand with Esther Lemus. You love yourself more than Windsor, more than staff, more than your fellow council members. Please do the right thing, resign tonight.” -Betsy Mallace
“I’ve lived in Windsor 12 years … the best thing to come out of this is not one single person is in support of Foppoli. As much of denial as he is in, maybe it’s finally going to sink in. I don’t care if he resigns but he will get recalled. I’d bet my truck on it.”-Steve L.
“Dominic Foppoli has a 20-year history of being a sexual predator. It’s so ironic that his first statement in this meeting was that he makes Windsor safe, when its completely the opposite. I do not feel safe with him in our community, much less as the mayor. Secondly, Mayor Debora turned a blind eye, because your politics meant more to you than standing up for women. You are a traitor to your own sex and you need to step down.”-Swilch
Editor’s note: We did not include comments that made additional accusations against the mayor, included profanity or contained explicit statements about sexual assault or rape that may be triggering to readers. However, we encourage readers to watch or listen to the meeting to get the full depth and breadth of comments. The video is posted at https://www.townofwindsor.com/721/Agendas-Minutes-Videos
