An Arizona school board member has suffered a humiliating blunder after she was caught on a hot mic calling one of her co-workers ‘morbidly obese’.
Carine Werner, a Scottsdale Unified School District board member and Arizona state senator, joined a governing board meeting virtually back on August 5.
In a cringeworthy moment, Werner appeared to forget to mute her microphone and made a scathing comment about a mystery colleague.
‘See what I have to listen to?’ she is heard saying to someone off-screen.
The audio is then briefly muffled, before she adds: ‘She’s like, morbidly obese.’
The outrageous comment came while the speaker was discussing Scottsdale Community College’s partnership with SUSD Nutrition Services.
Werner was unmasked as the culprit as she was the only female attendee to call in virtually to the livestreamed meeting.
It’s unclear who the remark was about, but Werner’s hurtful words quickly sparked a backlash.
Carine Werner, a Scottsdale Unified School District board member and Arizona state senator, made a humiliating blunder during a recorded meeting
The comment bothered Mike Norton, a Scottsdale parent, enough that he took to his Facebook page ‘Respect Our Scottsdale Students’ to call Werner out.
On the page, which has almost 4,000 followers, Norton described Werner as a ‘vicious, hateful, venom spewing’ person.
‘I considered sitting on this video,’ Norton said.
‘But it’s already burning its way around town. So screw the high road. Werner’s earned this blast.’
He called for Werner to issue a public apology for her comments.
‘Join me in demanding a public apology by Werner and her censure by the other 4 Board members,’ he said.
Other community members took to the comments to join in the outrage.
‘What a despicable person,’ one person chimed in.
Werner attended the governing board meeting virtually on August 5 (pictured: other members of the school board attending the meeting in person)
In a cringeworthy moment, Werner apparently forgot to mute her microphone and called one of her colleagues ‘morbidly obese’
Others called for Werner ‘to resign immediately’.
Werner serves as chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, vice chair of the Education Committee and as a member of the Appropriations Committee.
She is also the Arizona state senator who represents parts of Scottsdale, north Phoenix and Paradise Valley in Legislative District 4.
Julie Cieniawski, a former governing board president, said the issue here isn’t Werner’s politics or policies, ‘it’s about human decency’.
Cieniawski told Azcentral that it is the sign of a weak leader to judge another person by their physical appearance instead of their work.
‘I think it’s important for the public to know who they elect, and that their votes have consequences,’ she said.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Werner for comment.
