Tony Mack Press Conference Gets Ugly

A press conference by Trenton Mayor Tony Mack to announce the opening of a new park turned ugly as reporters asked questions that weren't about swings and slides.

It was a rare opportunity for Mack to meet the media who has refused to answer shouted questions about federal corruption charges as he remains in office. When Mack went to visit Trenton Police detectives James Letts and Edgar Rios at a hospital hours after they were shot in the line of duty he would not offer off-the-cuff thoughts and prayers for the detectives but instead referred reporters to a press release he promised to issue.

On Tuesday Mack initially wouldn't comment about Letts and Rodriquez but then said, "My heart goes out to the two cops who were shot," according to WPVI TV.

He has asked for assistance from the state to rehire 75 police officers to help combat Trenton's violent year of 31 murders but has been rebuffed. Governor Chris Christie, when asked about Mack's request, said at a press conference he would not deal with the "indicted" mayor.

When reporters asked Mack about violence in Trenton at Tuesday's press conference he attacked the media instead.

“You have no right in this world to abuse to abuse the integrity of our constituents. You would not do this in other communities. You would not do it because these kinds of things happen, violence happens in other communities. But you don’t abuse them and you’re not going to do it to this community as long as I’m here," he told WPVI reporter  Nora Muchanic according to the Trentonian.  Muchanic has covered Trenton for the Philadelphia television station since 1987.

When asked if he would step down and give Trenton an opportunity to work with a new mayor, Mack said, "“This is not talk time. So the fact that someone won’t talk to me doesn’t bother me because this is not talking time. This is action time." He later said he would not resign.

He chided the media for focusing on the negative aspects of Trenton. “Don’t just dwell on the bad because you hurt our children. You affect their thought process. You make them think that they can be nothing because all they read about is negative.”