Mansfield re-elects councilman, participant in Jan. 6 insurrection

Four-term Mans­field Town Coun­cil­man Charles Aus­burg­er, who par­tic­i­pat­ed in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capi­tol riots, was re-elect­ed last Tuesday. 

Though Aus­burg­er was among only eight can­di­dates to run for the nine-seat coun­cil due to the recent pass­ing of fel­low Repub­li­can David Frued­mann, his re-elec­tion has been con­tro­ver­sial among his Demo­c­ra­t­ic col­leagues because of his pres­ence at the riots on Jan. 6. 

“Mr. Augsberger’s pres­ence at the attempt to over­turn a legit­i­mate elec­tion is regret­table, to say the least,” Mans­field May­or Toni Moran said in an email. 

Asuburger’s par­tic­i­pa­tion at the Capi­tol gar­nered atten­tion from the Mans­field press and pub­lic ear­li­er this year. 

“It hap­pened a year ago, and it’s some­thing we’ve been aware of for a while,” Deputy May­or Ben Shaiken said in a phone interview. 

How­ev­er, accord­ing to Shaiken, the report­ing of his re-elec­tion on a broad­er plat­form renewed the atten­tion of local offi­cials and the public. 

“IT HAPPENED A YEAR AGO, AND IT’S SOMETHING WE’VE BEEN AWARE OF FOR A WHILE.”

Deputy May­or Ben Shaiken

The Huff­in­g­ton Post report­ed last week that sev­en can­di­dates who par­tic­i­pat­ed in the Capi­tol riots were elect­ed to local lev­el posi­tions and three to state leg­is­la­tures. Though all were admit­ted­ly in atten­dance, most said they only par­tic­i­pat­ed in the protests and denied enter­ing the Capi­tol building. 

The insur­rec­tion was an attempt to over­throw the 2020 Pres­i­den­tial Elec­tion results. The event was spurred by false claims from for­mer Pres­i­dent Trump that the votes in favor of Pres­i­dent Biden were fraud­u­lent. The march to “Stop the Steal” became dead­ly as pro­test­ers breached the Capi­tol building. 

In a coun­cil meet­ing fol­low­ing the event, Aus­burg­er stat­ed how he had wit­nessed the attack first hand. 

Though, accord­ing to the Chron­i­cle, Aus­burg­er said that he had seen a woman pushed down five flights of stairs and a man blud­geoned by a tear gas can, he told the coun­cil the vio­lence was incit­ed by a small group and most of the day was peaceful. 

Accord­ing to Deputy May­or Ben Shaiken, Ausburger’s sto­ry about what he saw and why he was there has been questionable. 

“His sto­ry since [the coun­cil meet­ing in Jan.] has changed a cou­ple times,” Shaiken said in a phone interview. 

Ulti­mate­ly, for Moran and many Democ­rats, it doesn’t mat­ter what the participant’s sto­ry is. Accord­ing to Moran, the demo­c­ra­t­ic val­ues meant to be upheld by gov­ern­ment offi­cials do not align with the moti­va­tions of Trump and his sup­port­ers that day. 

“HIS STORY [SINCE THE COUNCIL MEETING IN JANUARY] HAS CHANGED A COUPLE TIMES.”

Deputy May­or Ben Shaiken

“No mat­ter how atten­dance may be ratio­nal­ized, the fact that the pur­pose of the event was in fact trea­so­nous (the over­throw of the legit­i­mate gov­ern­ment) should have sig­naled that any­one tru­ly con­cerned with par­tic­i­pat­ing in a func­tion­al democ­ra­cy should have stayed away,” Moran said when asked about Ausburger. 

The meet­ing in Jan. result­ed in a vote along par­ty lines to pass a res­o­lu­tion stat­ing the town is unit­ed in sup­port of demo­c­ra­t­ic val­ues, includ­ing the right to free expres­sion and the con­sti­tu­tion­al process­es of gov­ern­ment. Aus­burg­er and Frued­mann vot­ed against the resolution. 

The res­o­lu­tion was not the first polar­iz­ing ini­tia­tive the coun­cil has under­gone. Accord­ing to Shaiken, it has been hard­er to work with Aus­burg­er when address­ing issues that are rel­e­vant on the nation­al scale. 

“There is def­i­nite­ly dis­agree­ment whether racism in Mans­field is a prob­lem that needs solv­ing,” Shaiken said. 

Accord­ing to Shaiken, this was a point of con­tention that came up in the work of the coun­cil this past term, as they worked to estab­lish a Human Rights Com­mis­sion in town to address larg­er soci­etal issues such as sys­temic racism. How­ev­er, Shaiken said Aus­burg­er has been a “pro­duc­tive mem­ber” of the coun­cil when address­ing issues pure­ly on the local level. 

“He is some­one who has a lot of his­toric per­spec­tive,” Shaiken said. 

With the pass­ing of Freud­mann, Aus­burg­er is the only Repub­li­can cur­rent­ly occu­py­ing a spot on the coun­cil. In their meet­ing this past week, the coun­cil decid­ed that, to hon­or Freud­mann, the choice of his suc­ces­sor would be left to Aus­burg­er and the rest of the Mans­field Repub­li­can Town Committee.