'Resign': 25 Madison officials, leaders call on Ald. Charles Myadze to step down (2024)

More than two dozen elected officials and community leaders are calling on North Side Ald. Charles Myadze to resign over allegations he abused women.

The joint statement denouncing Myadze was signed by 15 sitting Dane County Board supervisors, three state representatives and former Madison mayoral candidate Gloria Reyes.

“Alder Myadze’s victims deserve our trust and support,” the statement said. “Their voices in this will not be silenced. We as leaders in our community stand with them.”

In an email, Myadze again characterized the allegations as political attacks and denied most of the claims leveled at him.

“If any allegation against me is actually made in a proper forum, I look forward to addressing the matter in court,” he said.

In 2003, Myadze pled guilty to false imprisonment for shoving his then-wife by the neck into a door while she carried their infant child, according to court records. A Madison police officer who responded to the scene observed bruises and injuries on the woman’s arm and face.

“The 22-year-old incident that did occur was unfortunate, and one for which I took my share of responsibility, resolving the matter via an agreement recommended by legal counsel, and which resulvted in expungement of the charge from the record,” Myadze said.

Last month, another former girlfriend of Myadze said in a social media post that he had abused her over the course of their relationship in the early 2000s. A third woman, who is referenced in the statement, has said on Facebook that Myadze sexually harassed her multiple times while he was a candidate for the council. The woman did not respond to a request for comment earlier this month.

“Additional survivors have also privately disclosed to friends, family, organizations, and even to some of us, new stories of abuse but are afraid to publicly disclose because of fear, shame, disbelief and continued threats from Alder Myadze,” the officials said in their statement. “We call on Alder Myadze to resign, publicly apologize to his victims and the community, and fully cooperate with any investigations.”

“As for the alleged, unnamed ‘others,’ who are referenced but never identified, and whose alleged claims are never even articulated, much less substantiated, there is no way to possibly respond,” Myadze said.

Even as many other officials call for Myadze’s resignation, his colleagues on the council have largely refrained.

Ald. Jael Currie, who was council president when the allegations first surfaced, said she would encourage Myadze to consider stepping down.

Last week, the council passed a symbolic resolution calling for support of survivors of domestic abuse but did not directly address the allegations against Myadze.