‘You chicken piece of s**t!’: Saratoga Springs mayor blasts safety commissioner on tape

The relationship between two Saratoga Springs leaders does not appear to be any better.

13 Investigates obtained a secret recording of a phone conversation between Mayor Ron Kim and Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino.

“F***ing b****rd. They’re calling my son and you don’t even have any integrity to come forward and say look, let’s look into it,” Kim said.

The conversation was immediately after a shouting match in City Hall in May. Saratoga Springs Police caught it on body camera, and the department posted it on their Facebook page.

Kim, Montagnino and the Deputy Public Safety Commissioner Jason Tetu got into a heated argument after Kim said nothing was being done about alleged threats to a family member.

“You know the f***ing guy’s got weapons up the wazoo and he’s threatening me and you don’t f***ing have the guts to take a stand you chicken piece of s**t. You’re going down with me. You’re going down,” Kim said.

You can hear the conversation here:

Montagnino then responds to the mayor at the end before it cuts out: “Are you done, Ron? Or what?”

One day later, a harassment report against Kim was filed by Tetu with police. The report said Tetu does not want to file charges.

Tetu said he just wanted the argument to be documented.

“In terms of keeping a high level of professionalism, it just seemed to be the right thing to do to just leave it be.”

13 Investigates asked Tetu if the city can effectively run with city leaders at odds.

“Some hiccups, friction, and unfortunate circumstances in government should not affect a thriving city like Saratoga Springs. Can the government move forward? Yes, it can. Can people do better? Yes, it can and yes, they should,” Tetu said.

13 Investigates obtained the recording and harassment claim from a source in the Republican Party.

Saratoga Springs Republican Chairman Mike Brandi said it’s crucial the public sees what’s going on.

“Instance after instance after instance, in less than two years in office, Kim has shown himself to be just unfit to interact with people in a respectful and courteous manner — which is a minimum we should be able to expect from our elected officials,” Brandi said.

Kim declined an interview but sent a statement that said:

“Five months ago when this conversation occurred, I was concerned about veiled email threats by an individual who had a prior history of this type of activity and the abject failure of the Commissioner of Public Safety to take any action to investigate my complaint. In particular I was concerned about anonymous phone calls to a member of my family. It is unclear to me why this tape, made without my knowledge, and contrary to City regulations was released today, five months after the fact.“