‘Hippies’ remark resulted from frustration with colleagues, Port Townsend city councilman says

PORT TOWNSEND — City Councilman Geoff Masci on Tuesday said he criticized three council colleagues as “godless heathen hippies” last week because he feels shut out of council’s decision-making process.

And he says that the three missed his point.

Firing an opening political salvo in an election year for three council seats, Masci delivered his comments during the Jefferson County Home Builders Association monthly dinner meeting Thursday night.

Masci directed his comments at fellow council members Kees Kolff, Michelle Sandoval and Freida Fenn, whose seats are up for re-election in the fall.

Fenn has said she will not seek re-election, while Sandoval and Kolff are undecided.

Masci, who was ill and could not attend Monday night’s council meeting, on Tuesday said his comments were made in a joking, theatrical manner.

‘Expressing my viewpoint’

“I was expressing my viewpoint with an audience that shared an understanding with my position,” he said.

The three targeted council members responded Monday by saying Masci was unprofessional, divisive and inappropriate.

“The point was being missed. I feel like I’ve been stifled for three years,” Masci said Tuesday.

“I think that it’s a theme whenever I or anyone else points out the intellectual poverty of the council on a certain issue, then we become marginalized.”

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