Paladino sues Council over ethics charges
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Queens Republican Councilmember Vickie Paladino is suing the City Council to stop charges brought against her by the body’s ethics committee. File photo by Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit
By Ryan Schwach
Queens City Councilmember Vickie Paladino is suing her colleagues after the legislature’s ethics committee charged her with violating the Council’s anti-discrimination and harassment rules for a series of Islamophobic remarks she posted to social media.
Paladino said in the new lawsuit that the charges brought against her were politically motivated and that any attempt to censure her messages, including one that called for the “expulsion of Muslims from Western nations,” is a violation of her First Amendment rights to free speech.
The 28-page suit was filed Monday in Manhattan by Paladino and her attorney, Jim Walden, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor last year as an independent. The suit asks a judge to order the Council to halt its inquiry into Paladino’s remarks.
“The sole basis for the charge against [Paladino] is core political speech protected by the First Amendment,” the suit read. “Writing and posting the Tweets required no use of Council resources. None of the Tweets were directed to — or even mentioned — current Council members or staff. None of the Tweets pertained to Council business. All were personal advocacy on matters of public importance.”
“The charge is based on the absurd notion that public advocacy might offend members and staff of the Council and thus constitute ‘harassment’ under the Council’s internal HR policy, using an interpretation found nowhere in the language of that very policy,” the suit continued.
Paladino appeared in court on Monday. A judge denied her request for a temporary injunction, but set a hearing for April 7. The judge also said Paladino doesn’t need to respond to the internal City Council case until after a decision is rendered following the April hearing.
Last month, the City Council’s Committee on Rules, Privileges, Elections, Standards and Ethics brought charges against Paladino, alleging that her Islamophobic social media posts were disorderly and violated the Council’s “anti-harassment and discrimination policy.”
The charges and inquiry into Paladino’s comments were expedited and supported by City Council Speaker Julie Menin. The committee has yet to weigh in on any potential punishment for Paladino.
The suit said the comments that landed Paladino in hot water, which include claims that Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, was plotting a Muslim takeover of city government, were protected political speech.
“[Paladino’s] comments regarding the ‘expulsion of Muslims,’ ‘global jihad,’ and ‘Islamic conquest,’ while controversial, are matters of public concern and core political speech protected by the First Amendment,” the suit read.
Walden and Paladino claimed the comments were merely criticisms of the Mamdani administration and his political appointments, and that her comments about expelling Muslim New Yorkers were just “her views about mitigation of future risks.”
Besides defending the nature of her remarks, which drew widespread criticism, the suit challenges the nature of the charges against the councilmember.
Paladino argued that the workplace harassment charge doesn’t hold merit because Paladino’s posts were made on her personal X account and were not explicitly directed at any employee of the Council.
“By doing so under the theory that ‘workplace harassment’ can include public advocacy not directed toward employees, the Council wants to assume the right – and will thereafter have the obligation – to surveil and police the speech of each and every Council member and staff to assure a safe ‘workplace,’” the suit read.
Paladino argued that her Council colleagues have escaped scrutiny from the legislature for similar controversial remarks, including when progressive Councilmember Chi Ossé called the Queens Republican a “slimy…white supremasist.”
“Unlike her Democratic colleagues…[Paladino] is being singled out for a formal, adversarial trial designed to brand her publicly as a violator of human rights policies,” the suit read. “This selection is based impermissibly on her political affiliation and viewpoint.”
Walden, who told the Eagle that Paladino personally asked him to take on her case, said the core of the suit is about the power the Council has to police speech outside of a lawmaker’s official capacity as a member.
“The City Council doesn't have power to police the internet,” he said. “The workplace doesn't include the internet.”
The suit also accused Menin of pushing for the inquiry against Paladino as a means to amass enough votes to be elected speaker.
On Monday morning, Paladino announced the suit on X.
“These charges are based solely on my exercise of core First Amendment rights on my personal social media account here on X,” she said on the platform. “To be clear about exactly what's happening, the City Council is trying to assert that the internal rules of our staff HR manual on 'workplace harassment' extend to the entire internet, so they can surveil and police speech they find 'offensive' or disfavored on social media and elsewhere.”
“I look forward to being vindicated in court,” she added.
The City Council declined to comment directly on the lawsuit.
“The Committee on Rules, Privileges, Elections, Standards and Ethics has opened a matter regarding Council Member Paladino, and no findings have yet been made,” said a Council spokesperson. “As both this process and the matter before the Court are ongoing, we cannot comment further."
The suit directly names Queens’ three representatives on the ethics committee – Councilmembers Nantasha Williams, who serves as deputy speaker; Sandra Ung, who chairs the committee; and Shekar Krishnan.
All three declined to comment to the Eagle following the lawsuit on Monday.
