Paladino, NYC Council settle ethics dispute over Islamophobic tweets

The New York City Council’s Standards and Ethics Committee agreed to end disciplinary proceedings against Council Member Vickie Paladino over her anti-Muslim tweets, and Paladino agreed to drop her lawsuit against the council as part of a new settlement reached Monday.

Under the agreement, Paladino must put out a statement, clarifying that she never intended to make any council member or staff feel unwelcome or unsafe, and she must delete the handful of posts she was investigated over. She will also be required to remove any mention of being a council member from her personal Twitter account and she’ll receive a formal reprimand from Sandra Ung, the Standards and Ethics Committee chair. In exchange, the City Council is required to withdraw the disciplinary charge against Paladino “with prejudice.” Details of the settlement were published online Monday afternoon.

Neither of the involved parties are allowed to comment on the matter beyond Paladino and Ung each releasing a statement. According to the settlement, Paladino’s will read as follows: 

“The disciplinary charge against me has been withdrawn and I am withdrawing my lawsuit. To be clear, my personal social media posts were not directed at any council member or staff. I am responsible for the content, I never intended to make council members or staff feel unwelcomed or unsafe in their work environment. I send a heartfelt thank you to the court for facilitating the resolution.”

The agreement ends a tumultuous legal and disciplinary saga that’s spanned several months, pitting the Republican council member against City Council Speaker Julie Menin, many of her colleagues and the city Law Department. The settlement comes roughly a month after Manhattan Judge Sabrina Kraus encouraged Paladino and the City Council to reach an agreement outside of court. 

The conflict kicked off in March when the council’s Committee on Rules, Privileges, Elections, Standards and Ethics charged Paladino with disorderly conduct for five Islamophobic posts she made on X that they said violated the council rules and anti-harassment policy. Paladino promptly sued, seeking to halt the disciplinary process while arguing that speech from her personal social media account was protected by the First Amendment. She also claimed the City Council was targeting her for her conservative political beliefs. 

While the city’s Law Department sought to dismiss the lawsuit, Kraus ultimately upheld a hearing in April where she heard arguments from both parties. She’d declined to issue a decision at the time, but expressed doubts about some of the city’s arguments. 

A City Council source with knowledge of proceedings said the legislative body opted to settle out of concern that the judge would side with Paladino – thus setting a “harmful” precedent. The nine-member Standards and Ethics Committee met Monday to approve the settlement. 

Jim Walden, Paladino’s attorney, declined to comment on the settlement.

Without judicial intervention, Paladino would have been required to appear before the committee as the investigation continued. At the conclusion of that process, the committee could have ordered Paladino to complete sensitivity or ethics training, censure her, fine her, or, most seriously, expel her from the council. Any final verdict would have needed to then be approved by two-thirds of the 51-member council.