Common Councilor and Democratic State Representative Candidate Wayne Matewsky was accused of using his position to obtain unwarranted privileges for himself and his guests at a local restaurant and later engaged in a verbal argument with other guests of the restaurant over the behavior of a young special needs child, before leaving the establishment without paying his bill.
The matter, which came to light during the public speaking portion of the Board of Aldermen’s meeting on Monday, March 11, was first raised by Revere resident and former Everett resident Michael Toto, who told the Board that he was in the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant on March 6 when the incident occurred, the night after Matewsky’s Special Election Primary victory in his quest to be the next State Representative.
Since then, a spokesperson for the Texas Roadhouse restaurants, Travis Doster with the corporate offices, has confirmed the report by Toto and said that he felt the staff at the Texas Roadhouse had done everything it could to contain the incident.
According to Doster, who spoke to the Independent by phone on Friday, March 15, staff at the Everett restaurant reported to him that Councilor Matewsky, after asking to be seated with his party while they were at the bar, later asked to be moved to a different table.
“He felt that this young child, who was blind and deaf and was just trying to communicate with her parents, was unruly and he was uncomfortable,” said Doster of the incident.
Doster went on to say that a manager became involved, because the parents of the child had overhead Matewsky’s request and were offended.
“He (Matewsky) used foul language, saying that he wanted to be moved away from the noise,” which I think was unacceptable,” added Doster. “The manager then tried to calm the situation down and he called her a name. We’re a family friendly restaurant, we just won’t tolerate this behavior from anybody.”
On Monday, March 18 Doster called the Independent again to inform the paper that Matewsky had “met with the managing partners of the Everett restaurant and apologized. We now consider the matter closed and we wished the councilor luck with his campaign.”
Matewsky has denied the events as described by Toto, calling the allegations “dirty politics and mud slinging.”
“Ninety percent of what he (Toto) said is not true,” said Matewsky on Monday, March 18. “I did have a table dispute, I’d never been to the Texas Roadhouse before, I didn’t realize that it can get very loud in there and I had asked to be moved to another table, a request that the restaurant was not able to fulfill because they were so busy.”
Matewsky also acknowledged speaking with the managing partners, but stopped short of saying that he apologized.
“I spoke with the corporate people and they consider the matter closed,” said Matewsky.
The Councilor and State Representative hopeful also disputed rumors in the city that the incident was result of intoxication on his part.
“I was not intoxicated or anything like that,” said Matewsky. “Come on, I’m a 54 year old man, I had a (drink), but I was not drunk at all.”
Matewsky will face two Independent candidates and a write in campaign (see related story) in the Special Election to fill the vacancy created by the conviction of former State Representative Stephen “Stat” Smith in January.
Matewsky who beat five opponents in the Special Election Democratic Primary on March 5, will seek to secure the seat on April 2, when he faces independents Rosa DiFlorio and Dennis Gianatasio and Democrat John Hanlon, who lost the primary, but has decided to continue his fight for the seat with a sticker/write-in campaign.
“I have 32 years of experience in public office, I have experience at the statehouse as an aide, I know the Speaker and I know our state senator and I feel that I can effectively represent the city at the statehouse,” said Matewsky.