(The Center Square) — A Republican New York City councilor is vowing to “vigorously” defend herself against claims she violated the board’s ethics rules with a string of social media posts calling for the “expulsion” of Muslims from the country.
The City Council’s standards and ethics committee voted Wednesday to charge Council Member Vickie Paladino for remarks she’s made on social media over the past few months, criticizing newly appointed members of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration.
Council Speaker Julie Menin, a Democrat, called for the ethics committee vote, describing Paladino’s comments “unacceptable and deeply Islamophobic.”
“This deplorable, inflammatory conduct negatively affects Council employees and people across our city,” Menin said in a statement. “New York City is the most diverse city in the world, and we will not tolerate behavior that targets or demeans any community based on their faith, background, or immigration status — particularly from our own members.”
In a social media post, Paladino blasted the ethics committee’s vote as “politically motivated” and vowed that her legal team “will respond to this egregious violation of my rights swiftly.”
“Make no mistake, this mockery of the first amendment will not stand,” she wrote. “I have every right under the United States Constitution to engage in political speech on any platform I see fit.”
Paladino, a Republican who represents Queens, said none of the posts cited by the committee during its investigation contained any threats of violence and were protected by the First Amendment.
“No elected official, ideology, or religion is above criticism and debate,” she said. “I have every right to speak my mind on social media without fear of retaliation by my government, as does every American.”
Paladino posted a series of comments on social media calling for the expulsion of Muslims from western countries and suggesting that the U.S. should impose a ban on the Islamic religion.
In her posts, Paladino said Western governments should restrict Muslims from living within their borders. She also reposted a number of tweets expressing similar sentiments, including one that called on governments to “ban Islam.”
“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,” Paladino said in the post that she later deleted. “The administration needs to begin developing a formal legal framework for the denaturalization process and get it over with before we end up with another 9/11 or worse.”
Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, hasn’t commented on the councilwoman’s remarks.
Paladino must appear before the ethics committee again, when it could vote to censure or charge her with disorderly conduct over the comments. She is expected to bring an attorney and may file a legal challenge before then to block the proceedings.
“This is a core first amendment case,” she said. “It is imperative not only that this charge is dismissed, but that an example is made sufficient to guarantee no future political body is tempted to go down this road ever again.”
