Seabrook selectwoman under fire for telling India-born selectman to leave town

SEABROOK — Two residents called for the resignation of Selectwoman Theresa Kyle Monday for "racist remarks" she reportedly made against Selectman Srinivasan "Ravi" Ravikumar during an altercation at Town Hall two weeks ago.

Monday's meeting was the first one held since police were called to Town Hall on Sept. 25 by Kyle in response to an alleged assault that took place between her and Ravikumar during a nonpublic meeting. Kyle alleges Ravikumar finger-pointed in her face at the meeting during a heated argument, striking below her eye. Ravikumar claims Kyle attempted to slap him and told him to "go back where you came from."

Seabrook police are investigating the incident, and Police Chief Brett Walker was in attendance at Monday's meeting.

Kyle previously admitted that after the heated argument with Ravikumar on Sept 25, where she alleges his pointing finger "hit me right in the cheek," she told him, “Why don’t you go back where you came from?” However, she said she was referring to Andover, Massachusetts, where Ravikumar lived before moving to Seabrook, and not his home country of India.

Interactions between Kyle and Ravikumar appeared to be calm for the majority of Monday's meeting — with Kyle sitting at another desk away from her regular spot between Selectmen Chairman Harold Eaton and Ravikumar. However, that changed after the public comment portion of the meeting, when residents made calls for Kyle to resign. This led to an argument between Kyle and Ravikumar, causing Eaton to abruptly call for a "recess" to pause the meeting.

Previous story: Two Seabrook selectmen accuse each other of assault after police called to Town Hall

Seabrook residents say Kyle should resign

Seabrook resident Mary Messina was the first one to call for Kyle's resignation. She said she read about the incident between Kyle and Ravikumar in the newspaper and "racist statements like that" should never be tolerated or accepted by any elected official.

"I believe conduct expressed by (Selectwoman) Kyle can no longer be condoned or tolerated," said Messina. "She has shown herself to be racist."

James Hunt said he has watched board meetings in the last few years devolve into "divisive insinuations and innuendos" and "derogatory characterizations."

"The source of this rancor and discord, unfortunately, is one person, (Selectwoman) Theresa Kyle," Hunt said. "And while I appreciated and admire your willingness to serve this town these many years, I think the time has come for you to consider stepping down and tendering your resignation."

Kyle spoke out after both comments, stating she has no intention to resign and those who spoke do not know what was said between her and Ravikumar because they "were not in the room."

The only people in the room were the three selectmen and Town Manager Bill Manzi. Both Eaton and Manzi have not publicly commented on what transpired.

"You don't know what was said in that room," Kyle said to Messina. "You don't know the vicious, horrible names that were called, and right now, I can't discuss too much of it because the chief of police is over there, and we are under investigation."

She also hit back at accusations she was a racist.

"I'm the daughter of immigrants," Kyle said. "I'm the grandmother and great-grandmother of a Japanese-American child. I certainly am not a racist. That's a term that somebody throws out when they want or don't have something else to insult you about.

"I don't differentiate between poor people, rich people, people who live at the beach, and people who live in mobile homes … I treat everybody the same. So, as far I am concerned, you can wait to my term is up."

Kyle said Monday that while she called the police after the incident, a "friend of Ravi's called the newspaper," an apparent reference to Seacoastonline and the Hampton Union, which interviewed Kyle and Ravikumar following the incident.

She accused the people who called for her resignation as "Ravi's friends."

"The one that should step down is Selectman Ravi for violating our attorney-client privilege and giving privileged information to two people who started a lawsuit against the town, and they lost on every motion in the court," she said.

Kyle was referring to a defunct lawsuit by Maria Brown and Mary Messina claiming the Board of Selectmen and town manager were padding the default budget. Kyle previously claimed Ravikumar was secretly behind the suit, which Ravikumar has denied.

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Kyle and Ravikumar trade barbs over what happened at Town Hall

Selectmen Chairman Harold Eaton attempted to restore order in the meeting and told the audience the altercation and comments made on Sept. 25 are under investigation.

"So, until we actually know the facts let's just try and not throw around insinuations on people because we don't know their true motives," said Eaton.

Ravikumar, who denied touching Kyle during the altercation and has also called for her to resign, said the comments made by residents were not insinuations.

"It's not an insinuation because it was in the paper, in the article, that (Selectwoman) Theresa Kyle told me 'to go back to where I came from,'" said Ravikumar. "It's not an insinuation. It was an admission."

"But you don't know the motive," Eaton responded.

"There is no justification for racism, no matter what," Ravikumar said. "The comment is a racist comment."

"I meant for you to go back to Massachusetts," Kyle said.

Ravikumar alleged this wasn't the first time Kyle told another Asian American "to go back to where he came from." He recalled another incident where he and former selectman Aboul Khan and Town Manager Bill Manzi witnessed the remark regarding a developer of a proposed development to the west of Interstate 95.

"At the time, I should have spoken up," he said. "I made a terrible mistake in not speaking up."

"Ravi, you are absolutely lying," Kyle responded. "You are lying. Lying."

"Let's stop throwing insults and allegations at one another," Eaton interrupted.

"You can keep saying it (lying), but there are people who actually saw you say it," Ravikumar said to Kyle.

"It's too bad that he (Ravi) has so many people convinced that he is such a wonderful individual," Kyle said.

After several attempts to stop the back and forth, Eaton called for a recess. "Let's shut it down," he said.

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Board returns from recess to finish meeting, but tensions remain

When the board returned to finish its meeting, Kyle said she did not appreciate what had occurred "by people who are all friends of Ravi."

"We tried to have a good meeting, and once again, we had a problem," Kyle said. "And you can't blame me for what happened today."

Both Ravikumar and Kyle said the Sept. 25 incident stems from long-standing friction between the two over policy. Ravikumar also made a successful motion in April to oust Kyle from the chair position of the board for conduct "unbecoming of a selectman." He then "self-nominated himself" as chair, which was seconded by Eaton, who was tired of "disrespect on this board."

"This is exactly what has been going on with this board," Kyle said at the time. "This man here (Ravi) wants to be head of everything, he even wants to get the town manager removed and wants to change the form of government in the town."

"This is precisely the conduct unbecoming a selectman that I referred to," Ravikumar responded.

The Sept. 25 incident occurred during union contract negotiations with the firefighter's union. Ravikumar said he has tried to bring down spending for the sake of the town’s future, but Kyle has said Ravikumar’s policies are hurting town employees.

Each said the other’s behavior was unbecoming of selectmen.

Earlier, during the public comment portion of the meeting, Seabrook resident Bill Howley said he was concerned with how the board was going to function with "the lack of respect between members and inappropriate comments."

"Racist comments and newsworthy behaviors that humiliate our town are intolerable," he said. "We are a group of diverse and inclusive town people, and we expect those who represent us to honor our diversity and leave the personal animosities at home. Please get to work on behalf of the citizens of Seabrook."

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Seabrook NH selectwoman faces backlash for alleged racist remark