by KYW’s Mike Dunn
Newly-convicted City Councilman Rick Mariano is refusing to resign his seat, despite a plea from Mayor Street that he do so immediately.
The statement from Mayor Street was issued minutes after word of the guilty verdicts reached City Hall Friday afternoon.
“The Councilman should resign,” the Mayor wrote, adding that to do so “would be in the best interests of the city.”
But Mariano’s chief of staff, Jay McCalla says the councilman has no intention yet of stepping down, and his six-figure salary appears to be a key reason:
“He’s very much like the folks in this district. He’s not a King, he’s not a pauper, he’s just a guy who lives form paycheck to paycheck.”
McCalla was there as court officers led the councilman away in handcuffs, and he says it was tough on Mariano’s wife Susan:
“She’s a true lady, but her heart was broken.”
And he said their marriage has been “ruthlessly torn apart” by the judge’s decision to revoke bail.