BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

CANTON -- St. Lawrence Legislators have called for the censure of Potsdam Town Board Member Christine Paige following her social media comments that likened the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump to "putting down a rabid dog."

Voting in favor of the resolution to call for her censure and resignation by the Potsdam Town Board were Legislators David Forsythe, John Gennett, Rita Curran, Jim Reagan, William Sheridan, Harry Smithers, Rick Perkins, Ben Hull, Daniel Fay and Glenn Webster.

Voting against the resolution were Legislators Nicole Terminelli, Joseph Lightfoot, Larry Denesha, Margarett Haggard and John Burke.

An attempt to modify the resolution to omit language calling for her censure and resignation failed prior to the original resolution passing.

Following debate to modify the resolution, Chairman Forsythe voiced a strong opinion on the situation, saying he had never voted to censure anyone prior to this but that he felt compelled to use his First Amendment rights to express his opinion.

"This is ridiculous how we are not supporting getting rid of someone who says something like this," he told legislators.

"This woman has gone above and beyond any imagination of what this world is coming to," he continued.

Forsythe said he has been following the news recently, saying that the turmoil in Venezuela currently following a contentious election "isn't far off" in the United States due to calls for violence against political candidates and elected officials.

"Potsdam should be disgraced. I hope this woman puts Potsdam on the map," he said.

Forsythe continued, saying he didn't care if the resolution passed but rather that he would voice his opinion on Paige and the current situation.

"I think the Potsdam Town Board should ask her to resign. This is ridiculous," he said.

Forsythe said he "didn't need to sugar coat it" when it came to the language of the original resolution, saying any debate over whether the county legislature had the right and responsibility to call on another board to call for a member to resign was not even relevant. Forsythe said the county legislature was well within their rights to ask for another board to call for a resignation of a member.

"If we don't know the difference from right and wrong, I think we've got some issues ourselves," he said.

Initial comments cause uproar 

Town Council member Christine Paige, who said in a Facebook conversation that shooting the former president would be like “putting down a rabid dog,” told North Country This Week in a separate conversation that she has a right to freedom of speech and she did not apologize for her statements.

Her comments were part of a larger conversation thread in which the original poster said  “Shit they missed his head,” in the wake of a failed assisination attempt.

The thread can be read online here.

Potsdam Town Supervisor Marty Miller said statements made on Facebook on July 13 by town board member Christine Paige where she compared the assassination attempt to "putting down a rabid dog," were not "in any way" shared thoughts of the town board at large.

"The Board does not agree with the statement and denounces the comments made. This act of freedom of speech, as the Board member claims it to be, may have satisfied their own needs; the consequences have been severe to the integrity of this Board and the Community of Potsdam as a whole," Miller said in the statement.

"I can tell you firsthand that this selfish act of one person's satisfaction has been a nightmare for me and the rest of the Board the last couple of weeks. Even the staff at the Town Hall has had to put up with phone calls, voicemails, and emails, taking us all away from our daily duties as representatives of the Town of Potsdam," the supervisor said.

The original Facebook conversation where Paige made the statements was taken down at some point after the initial post. However, a screenshot capture of the exchange can be read online here.

Blowback over the incident reached the county level as well and Legislator Glenn J. Webster, District 11, told North Country This Week in an earlier conversation that he planned to introduce some form of resolution at an upcoming meeting that would decry Paige's statements.

In a separate interview with this newspaper, Paige said her right to free speech under the First Amendment included her statements on Facebook regarding the former president, and she did not apologize or attempt to walk back the comments.

She said had not paid much attention to the outcry over her comments, calling her critics' reactions "foolishness."

Some legislators conflicted

While Forsythe told the board he was not conflicted in calling on the Potsdam Town Board to ask for Paige's resignation, other legislators said it set a precedent they were not comfortable with.

Legislator Margarett Haggard said she was "conflicted" but was "sick of hate speech" at the same time.

"I'm conflicted but I will tell you, political violence and hate speech is a threat to democracy, I truly believe that.  It promotes division and harm. And I'm sick of it," she said in reference to Paige's comments.

"The First Amendment protects freedom of speech, it does not excuse or justify actions that incite or spread violence," she continued.

Haggard said she "deplored" what was happening, saying she agreed with the majority of the resolution but drew the line at calling for censures and resignations.

"The town supervisor (Marty Miller) addressed this. The town board should do as they see fit," she said.

Miller recently released a letter, calling the situation "a nightmare" for town officials and the Potsdam Town Board.

"I'm not willing to ask her to resign but do believe that promoting violence, regardless of who it is, I don't care about political affiliation in that regard. I hate it. Hate speech is ruining our country, it really is," she said.

Haggard said she knew that Legislator Glenn Webster, the sponsor of the resolution, put a significant amount of time and effort into the resolution.

"I know Legislator Webster put a lot of thought into this, he tried his best to be non-partisan and I really appreciate that," she said.

Legislator Joseph Lightfoot called Paige's comments "disgraceful and repugnant" but said he was of the opinion that it was not the responsibility of the legislature to urge the Potsdam Town Board to take action.

He said that would be similar to another board calling on the county legislature to censure one of its own members.

Lightfoot said the county legislature has had "a few issues where censure and speech concerning other people came to the attention of the board for action," which prompted the legislature to take action.

He said he was not aware of any village or town boards calling on the legislature to take action but Legislator Rita Curran commented that the Town of Potsdam had previously issued a resolution calling for action to censure a legislator and to urge calls for a member's resignation in the past.

"They were perfectly fine passing one our way," she said.

Curran called Paige's comments "dangerous language" that was "essentially asking someone to kill a former president."

"I don't think that's language that should come from anyone," she said.

Both Lightfoot and Curran commented that Paige would have to live with the consequences and fallout of her comments for years to come.

"Some people probably aren't ever going to ever be OK with this," Curran said.

"People, myself included, are shocked by the language and demeanor of this person. I didn't hear them but I am told they are on Facebook, which I don't participate in.  As I said, I personally agree with it (the resolution), but I don't think it's my right to insert myself into another legislative body," Lightfoot concluded.

Legislators John Burke, Larry Denesha and Rick Perkins echoed Lightfoot's sentiment, condemning the comments but refusing to go further in support of the resolution as it stood due to the calls for censure and resignation.

Other legislators call for action

While a handful of Republican legislators said they were "uncomfortable" with the language of the resolution, others strongly supported taking action as Forsythe suggested.

Legislator Ben Hull argued that the legislature was well within its rights to call on the Potsdam Town Board to take action, just as the legislature has done numerous times with state officials.

"We don't police or control the governor but we have a right to speak on matters that affect our constituents," he said.

"Censure is a formal rebuke, not a violation of free speech," Hull said.

Hull said as the highest legislative body in the county, the legislature "should have the right" to call for such action, just as other bodies reserve the same right to call on the county and state officials to take action.

Hull said the voters made their decision during the election to bring Paige to the board, however it was not inappropriate for the legislators to call for censure.

"We have a right to speak up for what's right...to speak out against an evil, such as the language used," he said.

Hull said he wanted to draw focus to the language of the resolution and to ensure it clearly stated that the legislature was in fact calling on the town board to censure Paige.

While members of the public have called on the legislature to censure Paige themselves, County Attorney Steve Button clarified during the full board meeting that the county does not have the power to do so.

"You do not have the legal authority to censure a member of another board. It's a punishment invoked by a board on its own member," he said.

Button did say, however, that the legislature did have the right to call for a censure.

While some legislators condemned Paige's comments, Hull said it "boggled his mind" that some legislators were unwilling to call for a censure. He said "speech doesn't come from a vacuum" but rather from an individual.

"I don't think the distinction makes any sense at all," he said.

Legislator James Reagen agreed with Hull, saying that members of political parties and those who hold office need to be held accountable for their actions and comments.

"The notion of an elected official supporting the assassination of a major party or any other candidate for public office or anyone else is just a repugnant (comment) and the ultimate in political extremism," he said.

Reagen said he had no issues condemning Paige, saying that her comments went beyond free speech.

"People have a right to free speech. God knows I exercised my right to freedom of speech for many, many years. But I also understood that when I did that people had the right to criticize that," he said.

Reagen said such rhetoric is "poisoning our civic discourse."

"Some pick and choose when something rises to the state of condemnation," he said.

Legislator Glenn Webster, who sponsored the resolution, called into question what the response would be if he made a similar comment.

"What would happen if I suggested someone here be shot in the head or be 'put down like a rabid dog'?" Webster asked.

"We can ask Potsdam to do that (censure), just as they did us," Webster said.

Webster said Paige as "almost so arrogant about it" as she previously stated she felt the situation would "just blow over" in time.

In an interview with North Country This Week she said she had no intention of apologizing for her statements. You can read that interview here.

"She says it's just 'silliness'," Webster said.

He said if the legislature did not take action and there were no consequences that similar actions and rhetoric would continue and worsen, creating an even larger divide.

"We need to ask them to do what is right," he said.

Webster said the people in the Town of Potsdam will have their own opinions and their own opportunity to address the situation at the next town board meeting.

"It's just totally wrong," he said.

In the end, legislators approved the measure 10-5 in its original form, calling on the Potsdam Town Board to censure Paige and to ask for her resignation.