Suspended Council Aide Sues Council Speaker for $1M
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The chief of staff to City Council Member Charles Barron, Viola Plummer, is suing Speaker Christine Quinn for $1 million for suspending her and for inflicting “severe mental anguish and emotional distress,” according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The complaint alleges Ms. Quinn violated Plummer’s civil rights by suspending her under the “pretext of a disciplinary matter,” thus treating her differently than white employees and denying her equal employment protection on the basis of race.
Plummer is seeking an injunction against the suspension today.
Ms. Quinn suspended Plummer from her council job for six weeks without pay last week, saying Plummer could return to work if by the end of today she signed a statement agreeing to behave better in the future.
In late May, Plummer vowed outside City Hall to end the political career of Council Member Leroy Comrie, a Democrat of Queens, even if it took “an assassination.” Mr. Comrie had refused to support a proposal to rename a city street after a deceased black activist who characterized himself as anti-white, Sonny Carson.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Quinn, Maria Alvarado, declined to comment on the lawsuit and said Ms. Quinn’s earlier comments on Plummer still stand. Ms. Quinn has condemned Plummer’s remarks against Mr. Comrie and said no one, most notably council employees, has the right to threaten anyone.
At a press conference outside City Hall yesterday, Mr. Barron tore into shreds Ms. Quinn’s letter regarding the suspension and tossed the bits into the air, where they lingered for a moment before fluttering to the ground.
“Chris, clean it up,” he said, referring to Ms. Quinn. “Clean up your mess.”
Mr. Barron said Plummer may remain on his staff as a volunteer and said he could share his salary.
Plummer, a 70-year-old grandmother of 10, was convicted in 1986 of making false statements to corrections officials in connection with a federal trial in which she and seven others were charged with conspiring to free members of the Black Liberation Army imprisoned for their involvement in a 1981 robbery of a Brink’s armored car during which two police officers and a guard were killed.
