The mayor of Akron, Ohio, resigned suddenly on Friday and blamed his quick departure on the the city’s newspaper, the Akron Beacon Journal.
“I do not believe that my hometown newspaper is interested in the truth,” Mayor Don Plusquellic wrote in his resignation letter, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. “I am done fighting this madness.”
Beacon Journal Publisher Mark Cohen rebutted Plusquellic’s accusations in a written statement on Friday.
“It is disturbing to me that the mayor would leave office this way,” Cohen said, according to the Beacon Journal. “The newspaper has a history of reporting honestly and fairly. To accuse us of somehow causing his resignation is just not rational.”
According to the Beacon Journal, the paper has covered Plusquellic’s recent dispute with Akron Councilman Bob Hoch. Plusquellic allegedly ordered the Akron police chief to keep Hoch from attending the State of the City speech in March. According to a letter obtained by the Beacon Journal, Plusquellic was afraid Hoch would shoot him at the speech due to threats Hoch allegedly made during council meetings.
Hoch and other council members have called for an investigation into Plusquellic’s accusations, according to the Beacon Journal.
In his resignation letter, Plusquellic claimed that the Beacon Journal did not want to interview the mayor’s cabinet members about the dispute with Hoch, and he accused the paper of running an inappropriate column about him.
H/t Political Wire
