Bangor City Councilor Wayne Mallar, 81, is facing an ethics board review after he was overheard making derogatory comments about immigrants during a city meeting. The remarks, which were inadvertently picked up by a microphone, have sparked widespread outrage among residents and fellow councilors.
Controversial Comments at Ethics Meeting
During a break in a Board of Ethics meeting on March 31, Mallar complained about a proposed budget increase for multilingual services in schools. 'The school department's asking for a 10 percent increase. As far as I'm concerned, they get no increase,' he said, seemingly unaware his words were being broadcast. He added, 'They can't speak English, read English or write English. It's not a disability. We do not have to furnish. They're probably all illegals anyway. That's what the cultural center is supposed to be doing.'
Public Outrage and Calls for Resignation
Mallar's comments provoked immediate backlash from Bangor's liberal residents. During a city council meeting on April 13, one resident stated, 'Many of the students here in Bangor are refugees, which means they are here legally. People can't be illegal. Mr Mallar is wrong, and hate like this has no place on this council.' Another resident accused Mallar of white supremacy, saying, 'When a white public official uses his power to argue for limiting marginalized and immigrant communities' access to education while making baseless, unsupported, overgeneralized claims that they are probably all illegals anyway, he is participating in a long and deeply documented tradition of white supremacist politics in America.'
Council Vote on Ethics Review
On Monday, the Bangor City Council voted 5-3 to refer Mallar to the ethics board, despite some members expressing concerns about the cost. Councilor Susan Deane noted, 'I do have some concerns about going to ethics. The reason being we spend a lot of time and resources on this. This is not an inexpensive thing to do. I don't think we should continue to send all of our councilors to ethics when they make statements that we do not agree with.'
Mallar's Defense
In an interview following the incident, Mallar stood by his comments. He argued, 'Why are we teaching English as a second language and taking away from teaching English to our regular citizens? It seems we're spending too much time on the homeless and the illegals and disregarding the citizenry.' He claimed he was unaware his microphone was live and that his words 'shouldn't have been' broadcast. Despite this, he maintained that cultural centers in Bangor should be responsible for teaching English to immigrants.
Context of the Budget Proposal
The budget proposal in question includes a 6.43 percent increase in funding for second-language learning programs, which would allow the school department to hire an additional teacher. Maine's Department of Education mandates that public schools provide English instruction to non-native speakers under state and federal law, and failure to do so could be considered discrimination. According to the Department of Education, approximately 5.4 percent of Bangor's students are multilingual, and the 2024 census found that seven percent of residents speak a language other than English at home, with six percent born outside the United States.
