Boot Paladino from the board
Carl Paladino, an offensive and unrepentant bigot, is unfit to serve in any public office and ought to be removed from the Buffalo Board of Education. It should have happened weeks ago. But many political and civic leaders of our state get meek and mumbly when it comes to standing up to Paladino. By refusing to take action, these leaders form a passive support network that enables the billionaire to spew his filth in public year after year, in apparent violation of state laws that prohibit hate speech and harassment.
Last December, in response to a magazine’s inquiry about his new year’s wishes, Paladino said he hoped that then-President Obama “catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Hereford. He dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to (Obama adviser) Valerie Jarrett, who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her.”
Not content with the gags about bestiality and violent death, Paladino, the New York State co-chair of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, also insulted First Lady Michelle Obama: “I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.”
In response to the ensuing uproar, Buffalo School Board member Paladino doubled down, issuing a statement calling Obama “a yellow-bellied coward” and “a lazy ass president,” and ending with “Merry Christmas and tough luck if you don’t like my answer.” For good measure, the elected school board member also used a radio appearance to call his critics “retarded liberal people.”
It's not the first time Paladino has disgraced and disrupted the Buffalo school system. In 2015, at a political rally, he denounced the presence of immigrant students, asking, “Why do we have this huge population of foreigners?” and answering his own question by complaining that “damn Asians keep coming here to go to school.”
And some will recall that in 2010, as the Republican Party nominee for governor, Paladino told a group in Brooklyn: “I don’t want (children) brainwashed into thinking homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option — it isn’t.”
If you’re keeping score at home, Paladino has now publicly mocked and demeaned Asians, blacks, gays and the disabled. He typically issues a half-apology to quiet things down, but inevitably returns to his obscene ravings.
Last December, the Buffalo board voted to request Paladino’s resignation, citing “the inalienable right, guaranteed by the New York State Constitution and the Dignity for All Students Act, afforded to the children of the City of Buffalo to be provided an education free of discrimination and harassment.”
He refused to leave, so the Board formally requested that state Education Commissioner MaryAnn Elia remove Paladino, as past commissioners have done when local school board members engaged in illegal conduct. Several online petitions, one with more than 24,000 names, urged Elia to act.
But the commissioner has said almost nothing in public, aside from a handful of written statements like a recent weak expression of generic concern, buried in a press release: “We must do everything in our power to create safe and supportive learning environments.”
Everything, apparently, except actually dismissing Paladino.
Paladino is set to appear before Elia at a public hearing in late June to answer an unrelated charge that he improperly disclosed confidential information about board negotiations with the district’s teachers.
A spokeswoman for the Commissioner suggests Elia’s silence is strategic: “If the Commissioner commented on Mr. Paladino's remarks in any way, they could be used to argue that she did not maintain impartiality and provide the basis to overturn any ruling she may make,” Assistant Commissioner Emily DeSantis told me.
I beg to differ. Elia will be sued and accused of impartiality by Paladino no matter what. Suing is what rich, blowhard bullies do. Elia should remove the bigot for cause and let his inevitable lawsuit be about reinstatement. If current law doesn’t provide the tools, she should recommend a change in the statute.
That would make her as forthright and forceful as Buffalo school board president Barbara Nevergold, who recently said, “Silence is not permissible . . . . There’s a time and place for you to stand up and confront people who are saying things unjustly and bullying, or abusing their power.”
That time is now.