Mayor Jon Mitchell is responding to criticism after a quote he gave to the Standard Times.

That tends to be my inclination...That's just my personality.

In a Wednesday article, Mitchell referred to former Mayor Scott Lang's postings on his personal website as "jihadist-style videos."

Mitchell admits he threw a few political punches in the write-up. "That tends to be my inclination, which is probably not always the best thing for an elected official to do. That's just my personality. But at the end of the day, it really isn't about him and me, it's about the city."

The Mayor's re-election campaign released a statement after the article was published, calling Mitchell's statement a "poor choice of words."

Mitchell says Lang has been sniping from the sidelines since he took office. He adds that other former mayors, including Fred Kalisz, John Bullard, Rosemary Tierney, and Jack Markey have offered political advice to Mitchell withouth making public criticisms.

Mitchell's opponent in the mayoral race, Maria Giesta, has called for an apology from Mitchell to Lang.

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