Arizona Legislator Claims Victim Status After Insulting Female Colleague’s Weight

An Arizona school board member who was caught on a hot mic calling her district’s nutritional director ‘morbidly obese’ 

Carine Werner, a member of the Scottsdale Unified School District board and an Arizona state senator, has been the subject of a petition for her removal, which has garnered 1,500 signatures, as well as protests regarding her remarks about Patti Bilbrey.

Earlier this week, Werner attended the district’s October board meeting, where she encountered protesters demanding her resignation. However, she declared that she refuses to yield to what she considers phony outrage.

Werner claimed that she has reached out privately to Bilbrey, the Director of Nutrition Services, and apologized. 

‘I fully took responsibility for the comments. I immediately reached out to Patti and apologized. We had a very constructive and respectful conversation,’ she stated.

‘It is deeply disappointing that a vocal few have taken the opportunity to manufacture a controversy for their own political gain.’

She also said that there have been threats made against her since the initial comments surfaced, AZCentral reported.  

Werner said people have even made threats against her, and that she remains focused on improving the schools. 

Bilbrey, in a statement, said that while Werner expressed regret, she never actually apologized. 

‘While I acknowledge that she called to express regret that I became caught up in this mess, she did not, and has not, apologized for the personal and inappropriate comments made about my appearance or for her dismissive words about the presentation,’ she said. 

During the school board meeting, some spoke up in favor of Werner but many continue to ask her to apologize publicly or even resign her position. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to Senator Werner for further comment.  

The controversy started when Werner 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. 

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.

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.