BUFFALO — Local developer Carl Paladino will not willingly resign his elected position with the Buffalo Board of Education despite a 6-2 resolution by his fellow board members on Thursday demanding he do just that.
The resolution called him to resign by late this afternoon or allowed for the board to hire outside counsel to either compel him do to so or have him forcibly removed. That came in the wake of statements Paladino made last week in Artvoice in which he said he hoped to see President Barack Obama die of mad cow disease next year and wanted First Lady Michele Obama to return to being male and move to Zimbabwe to live in a cave with a gorilla.
The comments stirred outrage among many in the community ahead of the school board vote. Paladino says the outrage is manufactured as a means to get him off the board “to not disclose their culpability in rigging the recent teachers’ contract.” He released a statement, which follows in its entirety:
The Board of Education’s action today is certainly not an illustration of a profile in courage or leadership. City of Buffalo Council Members, Legislators, the Mayor and County Executive have joined in the chorus of those Board members seeking my removal so as to push back on me to not disclose their culpability in rigging the recent teachers’ contract or their complicity in trying to unfairly settle the Board’s $450 million lawsuit against Lou Ciminelli for fleecing the citizens and children of Buffalo. I will fight to the end to continue to expose the corruption. “
