City Council Democrats agreed to drop a planned disciplinary action against a Republican politician over X statements calling for the “expulsion of Muslims,” The Post has learned.
The Democratic-dominated City Council said they’d drop their pursuit of Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino in exchange for her dropping a lawsuit over the matter and removing the title “council member” from her X account after already deleting the controversial tweets.
Paladino, 71, filed a lawsuit against the council in March, claiming Democrats infringed on her First Amendment rights when the council’s Ethics Committee filed a complaint against her that could have led to disciplinary action, such as censure.
However, both sides ceased hostilities and made peace, according to the settlement reached in Manhattan state Supreme Court before Justice Sabrina Kraus, which The Post obtained Monday.
“The disciplinary charge against me has been withdrawn and I withdrew my lawsuit. To be clear, my personal social-media posts were not directed at any Council Member or staff,” Paladino said in statement included in the settlement.
“I am responsible for the content, which was intended as commentary on policy and important public matters. I never intended to make Council Members or staff feel unwelcome or unsafe
in their work environment.”
Following last year’s antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach in Australia that killed 15 and wounded dozens of others, Paladino said posted a series of X posts aimed at Muslims and saying action needed to be taken to prevent “another 9/11 or worse.”
“We’re in the midst of a global jihad the likes of which the world has never seen, and we cannot ignore it,” she wrote. “We need to take very seriously the need to begin the expulsion of Muslims from western nations, or at the very least the severe sanction of them within western borders.”
Queens Democratic Councilwoman Sandra Ung, chair of the ethics panel, confirmed that the council dropped its disciplinary case against Paladino.
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“I appreciate that CM Paladino took down her tweets,” Ung said in a statement. “I believe the resolution strikes the right balance between protection of Council staff and the First Amendment liberties of Council Members. I have met with CM Paladino and told her that I did not approve of the content of her tweets.”
Attorney Jim Walden represented Paladino.
Courts usually require final action or exhaustion of remedies before weighing in on the alleged harm of disciplinary action. But in this case, the council initiated proceedings but did not end up punishing Paladino.
Walden had argued that Paladino was subjected to a disciplinary process that was allegedly unconstitutional.
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