Overview
- Republican Council Member Vickie Paladino posted, then deleted, messages calling for expelling Muslims from Western nations and creating a denaturalization framework.
- Members of the Council’s Progressive Caucus urged the Committee on Standards & Ethics to open an investigation and fast-track a censure vote by the full chamber.
- Incoming Speaker Julie Menin called the comments unacceptable, said she asked Paladino to remove the post, and stopped short of endorsing censure.
- Outgoing Speaker Adrienne Adams condemned the rhetoric and pointed to the ethics committee’s responsibility, while Chair Sandra Ung did not comment and no referral was confirmed.
- Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani criticized the posts as vile Islamophobia, and colleagues noted Paladino’s history of incendiary remarks as Australian officials labeled the Bondi Beach shooting an antisemitic terror attack carried out by a father and son.