3 arrested as Delgado speaks on SUNY campus
Three environmental activists who are critical of Rep. Antonio Delgado were arrested as the congressman spoke at SUNY New Paltz.
One of the three, Margaret Human, 72, of New Paltz, said on Monday that she and “about 10” protesters were at the college last Thursday, Oct. 10, and intended to disrupt the Rhinebeck Democrat’s “conversation” with constituents. Human said she is a member of the group Extinction Rebellion New Paltz.
Melissa Kaczmarek, SUNY New Paltz’s director of communication, confirmed that campus police made three arrests at the event.
“All were nonstudents, and the arrests occurred after several attempts to ask them to stop disrupting the event,” Kaczmarek wrote in an email.
Kaczmarek said she could not provide the names of all those arrested, but Human said the other two were Steve Greenfield of New Paltz and Marvin Warren of Kingston.
Greenfield was the Green Party candidate in the 2018 congressional election that Delgado won. He drew about 1.5% of the vote.
Human said she was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct. She did not know what charges Greenfield and Warren face.
SUNY New Paltz Police Chief Mary Ritayik could not be reached Monday.
“We got up, one after another, and said our piece,” Human said. “We didn’t know [Delgado] was going to get up there and lie, but that was how it turned out. We’re in a climate crisis and Delgado is doing nothing for it.”
Human said the congressman, who represents New York’s 19th Congressional District, “said twice” during his presentation that he did not take money from the fossil fuel industry, a statement she claimed is “a lie.” Human said Delgado takes contributions from former colleagues at Akin Gump, a law firm that she said represents fossil fuel companies.
Delgado’s office said the congressman — whose 11-county district includes
all of Ulster, Greene and Columbia and most of Dutchess — has not taken any donations from Akin Gump and accepts no corporate PAC money.
Human said Delgado tried to stop SUNY New Paltz police from arresting the protesters, but without success.
“They were hoping to avoid arrests,” she said of the congressman. “It’s bad publicity.”
Delgado’s office said Monday that the congressman wanted the New Paltz meeting to be civil and did not want people arrested.
Human said the protesters’ goal was “to let people know this congressman is not taking care of the climate and to keep him from sitting up there and charming his audience.”
Human said Delgado does not support the federal environmental legislation known as the Green New Deal but rather has sponsored the Green Jobs and Opportunity Act, which she said is “designed to kick the can down the road and study things we already know.”