By George P. Hassett

An angry and physically animated Mayor Joe Curtatone told aldermen Tuesday night he was “personally offended” by criticism of the city’s hiring practices in the fire department.

Curtatone told critics to “bring it on” and “I won’t be backed into a corner” during an impromptu speech at tonight’s Board of Aldermen meeting.

Curtatone was apparently responding to comments from Andrew Puglia, the father-in-law of Sean O’Brien, an Iraq war veteran who maintains he was wrongly skipped over for a job with the department.

“I am personally offended that the reputations of the people in this administration and my solicitor’s office have been besmirched, besmirched,” Curtatone said as he waved a hand. “Accusations, maniacal rants, inaccurate facts thrown out here and assumed to be true. I take offense.”

Curtatone did not specify which part of Puglia’s statements were inaccurate.

Puglia, a disbarred attorney who essentially defeated city lawyers in September when a labor commissioner ruled that O’Brien be placed at the top of the civil service list for a Somerville firefighter’s job, was sponsored to speak by Ward Seven Alderman Bob Trane.

Making alternate references to old Saturday Night Live characters, specific labor laws and ancient Greek literature, Puglia spent close to 20 minutes detailing what he said was the city’s mishandling of hiring several firefighters over O’Brien, a disabled veteran who served two combat tours.

The issue was first raised by Alderman-at-Large Bill White who questioned city attorney Matthew Buckley about why aldermen were not notified of an email directing the city to place O’Brien at the top of the civil service hiring list hours before they were set to confirm a new group of firefighters.

Curtatone made an apparent reference to Puglia’s status as a former attorney when he said, “If you’re going to give unlimited time to these types of rants, I hope you’ll give the same time to people who work for this city who are practicing attorneys, who are upstanding citizens of the law.”