POUGHKEEPSIE – Laurie Sandow, an outspoken critic of the Poughkeepsie Common Council, was arrested at Monday night’s meeting, according to Police Chief Tom Pape.
Sandow, a regular participant during public comment, had signed up to speak during that portion of the meeting. Reading from a prepared statement, she began to criticize Sarah Brannen and Sarah Salem, both members of the common council.
According to Sandow, Brannen had recently plagiarized the Washington Post while Salem was accused of “ripping off” the design of campaign posters used by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Sandow maintained Salem has produced campaign posters with the same design as Ocasio-Cortez only replacing the photo of the member of Congress with the likeness of the council member.
After the accusations, Sandow’s comments shifted to remarks about the campaign between Salem and the council member’s Democratic Primary challenger, Mike Young. At that point, Salem and Brannen called for a “point of order” asking Chairwoman Ann Finney to silence Sandow for violating the council rules.
Brennan could be heard asking Police Sergeant Joseph Ciardi to assist in quieting Sandow. The police presence at council meetings has been mandatory since 2018. When the police presence resolution was passed, Sandow maintained she was “personally was the attempted target of this new rule” and continued, asking “Why is the council so frightened by words that hold them responsible for their own actions that they need to use city money to silence the truth?”
At Monday’s meeting, Sandow continued speaking after the officer asked her to cease and criticized Salem for backing out of a candidate forum. Moments later council member Matthew McNamara turned off the sound system, including all microphones, depriving most in the audience and everyone watching at home from hearing the continuing conversation. Only those seated closest to the dais were able to hear the exchange. Finney rose from her seat and approached Sandow and asked her to stop speaking. Sandow refused. Shortly thereafter Sandow was escorted from the council chambers and arrested on the violation of disorderly conduct. After Sandow’s removal, the microphones were turned on again and the meeting resumed.
Sandow asserts that the rules for the common council allow her to speak without being ruled “out of order” by the chair. McNamara claims that Sandow’s comments were both “offensive and not within the rules of the public comment,” which led to her ejection. McNamara went on to say “Laurie started to campaign for Mike Young. The rules of the public comment are to speak on city business, not naming council members directly. Ms. Sandow has chosen to ignore these rules on several occasions.”
When Chairwoman Finney was asked about the justification in turning off the microphones and having Sandow arrested, Finney responded via email saying “no comment.”
Salem and former councilman Young square off next week in the Democratic Primary for the council’s “At-Large” position.
Sandow is scheduled to appear in City Court on Monday, June 24. The City corporation counsel’s office is handling the prosecution.
