Robert Winters, a civic blogger and the subject of controversy during his run for City Council last year, had his reappointment to a Cambridge neighborhood advisory board challenged by city councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler on Monday. Fourteen residents also spoke against the reappointment, citing procedural issues and Winters’ past social media activity, which has received accusations of transphobia and Islamophobia.
The original roster for the Central Square Advisory Committee did not include Winters, who has served on the committee for 20 years. Winters’ name was added the day of the council’s discussion and vote last Monday. City Manager Yi-An Huang, who is responsible for appointment decisions, admitted that “the appointment process was not ideal. I recognize that while we were within the letter of Open Meeting rules, this could have been handled better.”
Although the motion to reconsider Winters’ appointment was voted 6-3, the council does not have the power to remove members of citizen boards, and the vote could not result in any action. Huang, meanwhile, said “simple disagreement with positions that were previously known is not a sufficient reason” to remove a member.
The residents who spoke against Winters, organized by members of the Democratic Socialists of America, cited his past social media posts. The posts include a now-deleted tweet that replied publicly to LibsOfTikTok, a far-right account whose posts have led to death threats toward childrens’ hospitals, with the link to a drag storytime event held for children at the public library.
“He invited a right-wing provocateur, one known for her posts causing bomb threats, to direct her hate mobs toward Cambridge,” resident Siobhan McDonough said. “I don’t need to tell you that there is a rising tide of antiqueer and -trans violence in this country. You saw Donald Trump run his presidential campaign against us. I’m sure you’re all aware of the right-wing mob and the bomb threat at Somerville Central Library just last month. Given all of this, it is incomprehensible to me that Winters was reappointed.”
Other residents speaking against the appointment included the parent of a transgender child and the spouse of a public library worker.
Appointment disappointment
The councillors generally agreed that Winters’ social media behavior was distasteful, though they disagreed on what that should mean for his ability to serve on resident boards.
“I’m disappointed in this appointment. Mr. Winters has a history of anti-LGBT and anti-Muslim posts on social media that councillor [Burhan] Azeem and others have documented in the past that I don’t believe he’s ever apologized for,” Sobrinho-Wheeler said. “Last week at the council meeting, we were talking about the Cambridge city government standing up for its residents in light of the incoming Trump administration.”
“If we’re going to elevate people in this community to be appointed to have a voice or a seat at the table that other people don’t get to have, we better do our diligent job and making sure that those people, regardless of what their personal views are, are not doing anything or saying anything that is harmful to the community,” vice mayor Marc McGovern said.
Voices in support
Councillors Paul Toner and Cathie Zusy, as well as Huang, cautioned against silencing perspectives and spoke in support of Winters’ past civic work.
“He has done more for this city to inform us about Cambridge than 99.5 percent of the population,” Zusy said. “He’s an extraordinarily devoted Cambridge citizen who has good ideas and has posted some stupid things.”
Winters, who wrote a piece defending himself last October, called the Monday reappointment challenge part of a “recycled campaign of harassment by Dan Totten” in an email.
“All I ever did was to make a note in reply that Cambridge also had a similar event,” wrote Winters regarding the LibsOfTikTok post. “This was not done to threaten anyone nor did anything ever become of it. At that time I knew almost nothing about ‘LibsOfTikTok’ other than the fact that it often showed some short videos of people doing some pretty ridiculous things.”
“You can call me naive if you wish, but there was never any malice nor ill intent on my part and it is totally unfair for anyone to suggest otherwise,” he added.
“Oversight” in a process
The appointment process was subject to scrutiny by councillors, residents and even Winters. In his Cambridge Community Television program “InsideOut,” Winters described his “outrage” at not initially being on the list, after which he contacted city councillors.
“The word that came back officially was that it was an oversight,” Winters said. “I am not a big fan, quite honestly, of this notion that somehow the political players should privately talk to the city manager in order to guarantee certain outcomes. Even though I have to admit, in this current situation, it kind of was necessary for me.”
This last-minute addition of Winters drew criticism for its lack of transparency.
“It certainly wasn’t on the agenda, and then it just kind of popped in,” Totten said in public comment. “And I think that’s a bad precedent to set.”
“This is, sadly, a lack of transparency at its finest, and we have to do a better job at this body to really support the integrity of the work that we do here,” councillor Ayesha Wilson said.
Agreement over a critique
The incident also led to discussion of the general appointment process for Cambridge’s resident boards and commissions, which is decided by the unelected city manager. Winters and his critics seem to agree the process is imperfect.
“I don’t think that city staff should be the ones necessarily having 95 percent of the control of who is appointed and who is not,” Winters said.
“A system of government run by an unelected executive is fundamentally undemocratic,” said the Boston Democratic Socialists of America in a public statement.
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Robert Winters is a bigoted weirdo who tried to sic far right terrorists on a children’s event at the Cambridge Public Library.
Robert Winters is a toxic presence. The committee appointment process needs to be more democratic.
Is Paul Toner going to be on the wrong side of every issue?
Watching the Nov. 25th City Council meeting where this was discussed and very disappointed that so much time was taken up with members weighing in on what they they all think of Robert Winters’ opinions about anything.
The process for appointment to committees obviously needs to be followed – whatever it is – that approve appointments based on someone’s experience, background relevant to a committee’s mission or willingness to serve and show up to meetings.
But the Council should not be voting to approve or disapprove an appointment based on political correctedness of that person’s opinions. This is the equivalent of having the Council act as the “thought police”.
I heard one Council member say that people appointed to committees are “endorsed” by the Council – this is just not the case at all.
Residents appointed to committees do not represent the Council, they represent themselves and their opinions and to whatever extent possible, the opinions and interests of other residents.
I do not believe that the City Council has any business discussing the social media posts or ideology of any applicant.
Robert is a very nice man and doesn’t deserve this. Everyone makes mistakes and he has apologized. He has dedicated his life to Cambridge and in particular Central Sq. He has always been a reasonable voice on the committee.
I have never seen anyone as vilified as what is happening now. Mr. Winters can be sarcastic, sharp, ironic, contrary, divisive, caustic but he is also one of the most dedicated of citizens pointing out inconsistencies and knows the charter history as well as the history of cambridge cold. He is often a voice of reason on committees as mentioned.
Manager Huang made a great statement about cautioning against shunning, canceling people who are offensive. If that is the case, we would not have a particular councilor who “liked” every toxic post, made statements and character-assassinated a couple of members of the public on several occasions. He is known for being a bully and for intimidation, something rubbing off on his protege. let’s look at his and the lead commenter’s media presence. They are equally offensive.
He may have some positive qualities, but his transphobic and racist statements are serious issues. Criticisms of his racist social media posts and alerting far-right groups about a drag story hour at the Cambridge Public Library are valid concerns, not “thought policing.” These actions had real consequences, requiring police deployment at the library.
But I guess as long as he opposes affordable housing, that’s OK with some people.
All these people talking about what a nice guy Robert Winters is, and yet none dispute the fact that he tried to sic far right terrorists on a children’s event at the Cambridge Public Library. Oops!
Winters has vilified entire groups of people for who they are, and has attempted to direct violence against people within our community who are already marginalized. Meanwhile the majority of the city Council is willing to run apologia about it because he shares their opposition to new housing and bike lanes.
He deserves far more criticism than he has received and so do all those who have defended him.
Winters has not in fact apologized for attempting to direct violence against the local library in the square he now has an oversight role over. It is relevant and no he has not taken any accountability for it. Stop lying to defend bigots. It makes it clear you are a bigot too.
In fact, Robert has not apologized for his actions. If he had, as many of us noted, this would have unfolded differently.
A woke version of McCarthyism.
What a sad, new low for our Council.
Seems we are a welcoming and accepting community, unless someone’s views don’t align with the DSA’s gatekeepers. Chilling to watch Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler try to curtail free speech under the guise of “standing up for its residents in light of the incoming Trump administration.”
I also wonder why the author didn’t include any of the comments the City Manager made regarding this entire issue instead of highlighting the gibberish from the DSA.
Disappointing given the recent Cambridge Day announcement of its non profit status and that it seeks “to be the trusted news source for all of Cambridge”.
People who are racist and transphobic should be vilified. They are vilifying others. Why is this even a discussion?
Those who are wasting time here attempting to smear Robert Winters, someone who has invested years of his life working to improve Cambridge, may want to direct their gaze to Washington and draw attention to the likely real harms to freedom coming our way.
Patrick, genuine question – where and when did he apologize, and for what exactly? The only thing I can find is, “I’m sorry if anyone failed to appreciate my sense of humor (actually, I’m not really sorry)” in this blog post: http://cambridgecivic.com/?p=9348
Doesn’t sound like a real apology to me.
In that post he also minimizes the most serious thing he did, which was call the attention of a popular anti-trans hate account, Libs of TikTok to a drag time story hour at a Cambridge library. Libs of TikTok is a well known hate account implicated in bomb threats called in to Children’s Hospital. https://www.npr.org/2022/08/26/1119634878/childrens-hospitals-are-the-latest-target-of-anti-lgbtq-harassment
Those threats caused harm to sick children and their families, and there was reason to believe Winters’ tweet might invite the same or worse to the library event. If I recall correctly, after Winters’ tweet, a police presence was added to the event. This isn’t about political correctness – it’s about whether it’s okay to point dangerous online hate mobs in the direction of the very people they’d like to hurt. I think that’s not okay.
The most generous interpretation of this whole thing is that Winters did something tremendously stupid and ignorant, something which caused a lot of fear and could have gotten people hurt, and he’s not sorry about it. All signs point to him thinking he’s the victim here.
I get that you’ve had positive experiences with the guy, but this isn’t a case where being a good friend to someone means defending them online. It’s a case where being a good friend means saying something like, “Hey, you really messed up here. I’m here if you want to talk about what to do next.” Apparently no one did that for him, and it’s a shame.
Robert Winters did not merely like a post on social media. He alerted a far-right hate group to a drag time story hour at the library and wrote anti-Muslim posts. And he has not apologized.
He is a bigot. Only a bigot would defend a bigot.
The one thing missing in the article and all the comments are what he actually said and/or wrote. It is hard to render an opinion on how abhorrent or milquetoast the words that were conveyed by an individual if I don’t know the words. However, the public bathroom in Danehy park looks like a crime scene whenever I have tried to access it, and I would rather them use their power to discuss things like getting that on a regular cleaning schedule, than philosophical ideals they don’t really have any say in.
“real harms to freedom coming our way” like directing hate groups to target the local library’s drag queen story hour?
It’s not a smear. He did that, and if you want to apologize for it you are an enemy to freedom too.
All winters’ friends show who they really are by defending his naked bigotry. When people tell you who they are believe them.
I’ve known Robert as a neighbor and community activist for more years than most of his critics have been alive.
He does not have an evil bone in his body.
He’s done more for this city, in more ways than anyone I can think of.
Let’s stop this ridiculousness and move on.
@Brocktoon. Who cares about spreading hatred, there is a bathroom that needs cleaning??
Wow. Just wow.
I could understand this continued vitriol if Winters had been appointed to the LGBTQ+ Commission or put in charge of library programming for children, or shown any interest in those roles. That’s not the case.
It’s troubling that so many people in this comment section talk about “friends,” which implicitly suggests enemies. We’re citizens first and foremost, and Winters has been a model citizen on steroids for decades. He has opinions some of us disagree with, and he’s bluntly honest. Unlike so many of us, he doesn’t skulk around anonymously on Twitter, TikTok or in the comments section of Cambridge Day.
For those readers who want to read his apology, go to the Cambridge Civic Journal entries from October 2023 = just looked that up. For those who want to read what our city manager said about this appointment, head to the Harvard Crimson.
@Elissa Carlson I didn’t know Mr. Winters was on steroids, that does help to explain his aggressive and erratic behavior.
He informed a far-right group with a history of violence about a drag story hour at the library and has made anti-Muslim statements.
“Sorry, not sorry” is not an apology.
Spreading hatred and inciting violence is unworthy of a model citizen. Actions like these do reflect malice.
Calling out hatred is not “ridiculous.” Defending those who spread it is. Dismissing concerns about hatred in our community is equally absurd.
If you know him and like him, you are probably not Muslim or LGBQ.
They say Hitler’s dog liked him, but that’s hardly redeeming.
I’ll just exit this exchange by reiterating that I don’t share Winters’ views on the matters in question anymore than I endorse vile misogyny, which is not at all. Hitler’s dog? Really?.
@Elissa Carlson Yes, really. It’s an analogy.
The point is that some people liking him doesn’t change anything.
It doesn’t redeem him. It doesn’t change the fact that he spreads hatred.
@ResidentOfCambridgeMA
Steroids makes you more aggressive. It doesn’t put ideas in your head. Those are his own.
I am ashamed of Cambridge for such character assassination.
I have served on many working groups with Robert and he has always served this city above and beyond.
The advisory board is/will be lucky to have him.
Oh my. Do not be put off Robert Winters by the nasty comments here. If you have doubts about his profound, long time, and long term commitment to this city, get to know him. He understands much about Cambridge’s political history and evolution of governance. He thinks very carefully about issues that affect this community, with more context than most people. He’s been harshly targeted for some time so I am glad he has the stamina to stay with it. Don’t take my word for it, get offline and talk with him, I mean the way real people do.
I have known Robert Winters since 1989. I know him to be highly inclusive, not a bigot at all. He has helped and funded numerous residents especially elderly, of many nationalities. He rents to diverse groups from different countries. He is not anti-choice of any category. He has worked alongside and taught people of every kind and stripe you can imagine. He posts events of many types to many places without any hidden agenda. He most assuredly would not endanger any person or group. In fact. He would be the first person many would call to their defense. That a politically motivated group, reworded and misrepresented his simple posting of a public event with no additional comment in that event sharing, to accomplish your political agenda is the very thing you falsely accuse him of! He is revered far and wide from humble to lauded across all of Massachusetts! He has never posted anything against any religion or gender identity. Prove. Me. Wrong, with actual links.