Annette McHugh told members that the mayor confronted them with an e-mail McHugh had sent to party members. The e-mail said the group might protest at Scruggs' community town hall Tuesday, although she later said they would not.

“When we attend the Community Town Hall on March 15th, we will either be protesting her decision to go through with the Phoenix Coyote full-of-hockey deal outside the venue, or we will be inside the venue applauding if she has decided to stop the transaction,” McHugh said in the March 5 e-mail.

McHugh said the mayor on Wednesday "brought up the Tucson (shooting) incident because I said protest in the e-mail...She gave me the impression that (she thought) we were radical nuts."

McHugh added: “She [Scruggs] was very defensive and didn't let us talk for the first 20 minutes. She kept looking at me and saying, 'Protest. You know what happened in Tucson? How many people were killed?'”