Ambler Borough Councilmember Amy Hughes (D, Ward 1) announced her immediate resignation during the public meeting held on October 7th. Her announcement follows her participation in an online social media post made by the elected Ambler tax collector, Jennifer Stomsky, who lamented that she was “tired of being told that violence isn’t the answer” and that “history is filled with blood.” Hughes then went on to comment that she couldn’t argue with Stomsky’s statement, which was made hours after the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

In her resignation announcement, Hughes stated that she did not believe that Stomsky was calling for violence and that she did not condone violence. She admitted that the post and her own comment “reads horribly.” She expressed that those who don’t know her and Stomsky do not understand that they tend to speak in “metaphoric frustration.”

Hughest than goes on to question AroundAmbler.com’s (without naming us) inclusion of another comment, “Let’s make some more martyrs,” which was never attributed to anyone other than Stomsky.

During her statement, Hughes referred to AroundAmbler.com as an “opinion outlet.” Are we? Did we rush to publish the screenshots and offer an opinion on them? Did we offer Hughes and other elected officials the opportunity to address them before publication?

We want to share the timeline of how we came to write an article on this issue (as it involves the borough council and mayor).

On Saturday, September 13th, we woke up to an email that outlined Stomsky and Hughes’ social media posts/comments. That same morning, we sent an email at 7:13 a.m. to each member of the borough council (which included Hughes) and the mayor, asking them if they would like to address Stomsky’s post and Hughes’ participation in the thread.

At 12:13 p.m., AroundAmbler.com received a reply-all that offered a statement from Borough Council President Glynnis Siskind. That statement was that elected officials enjoy free speech, what was said was on their personal pages, and those opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the council or the borough.

To ensure that all council members and the mayor, who were included on the email (including Hughes), agreed with Siskind’s statement, we asked them directly whether everyone agreed. We did not receive a response.

AroundAmbler.com did not publish the initial article until September 14th at 8:48 a.m., a full 24 hours after sending the initial email to the borough council and mayor. Hughes had 24 hours to speak with AroundAmbler.com and offer an explanation. She chose not to.

It then took Hughes three weeks to comment on it publicly, which she did during her resignation statement.

Now, did we eventually offer an opinion? Yes, we did. Opinion pieces are a common part of a news outlet’s content. We called for every elected official in Ambler to resign in a post that was tagged “opinion,” but as we stated in that post, “However, Stomsky is really no longer the story.” Our call for resignations was based on the weak or lack of response from council members and the mayor.

What is the current situation with Stomsky? She has not resigned as tax collector and will appear on the November ballot as the Democratic Party’s endorsed candidate. While she apologized and resigned from a position within the Wissahickon Democratic Committee, she continues to serve as the chair of the Ambler Democratic Committee.

When Hughes completed her resignation statement, the borough solicitor advised the council that a motion should be made to accept it. Initially, no member of the borough council made a motion, and the solicitor continued that if the council did not vote, the resignation would be automatically accepted if it was not acted on within 14 days. The solicitor suggested that it was cleaner to vote to accept, as Hughes had made her resignation effective immediately. Councilmember Louis Orehek (R, Ward 1) made a motion to accept the resignation, and the vote was unanimous in favor of accepting it. The council now has 30 days to appoint a replacement.

Hughes’ full statement is below (note we missed the first few seconds).

Images – Screengrabs of Stomsky’s Facebook page