Listen To Ethnic Slur Against Burr Ridge Mayor

BURR RIDGE, IL – A Burr Ridge resident is said to be heard on the Village Board’s meeting video earlier this month calling the mayor a derogatory term typically used against Italian-Americans.

The insult can be heard on this portion of the video just after Mayor Gary Grasso, an Italian-American, was sworn in for a new term at the May 10 meeting.

In the video, resident Patricia Davis is said to have called the mayor a "f------ goombah." "Goombah" is a slang term used against Italian-Americans and has connotations to the mafia and other Italian organized crime.

Asked about the statement on the video, Davis, a Grasso critic, neither confirmed nor denied it. She questioned how her voice could have been caught on Zoom during the meeting.

“As a businesswoman, I am an experienced Zoom user. The very first thing I do when entering a Zoom meeting is to mute my microphone,” Davis said in an email to Patch. “I know that my audio was muted during the Board meeting in question. My attorney is now investigating whether or not the Village unmuted me without my knowledge or consent, which may constitute fraud.”

She called Grasso a “vindictive, hypersensitive bully” who, in several instances, disparaged her and others in violation of the code governing the behavior of village officials.

During Monday’s Village Board meeting, Grasso played the clip in which Davis used the slur. He said he hoped Davis wasn’t referring to retired Judge Joseph Casciato, an Italian-American who swore him in.

“She is unwelcome as far as I’m concerned in this village. We do not need people like her,” Grasso said. “She’s always coming in saying something negative. That’s her right. But (the slur) crosses a line.”

Davis appeared on the political scene last year when Grasso proposed increasing the mayor’s salary to $30,000, from $6,000. She opposed a raise and researched the issue, showing that $30,000 would be higher than the pay of most area mayors, some of whom make nothing. Several trustees also opposed the hike and wanted to let voters decide a pay raise to $12,000. It failed.

Earlier this month, Davis got into an online Zoom chat during a meeting of the village’s Plan Commission with an anonymous person who used Italian-American slurs against a businessman proposing a night spot.

Davis said in response to the person: “Fugeddaboutit.”

The online chat, which Patch obtained through a public records request, drew the criticism of Trustee Guy Franzese, an Italian American, and other trustees.