Edison Town Council ejects man for holding American flag

By Alvin Wu + Zoe Wu
Domestic Affairs
Edison Town Council ejects man for holding American flag

Police officers remove local attorney Joel Bassoff from the Nov. 25 Edison Township Council meeting at the direction of Council President Nishith Patel for holding an American flag during public comment. NEW BRUNSWICK TODAY/Charlie Kratovil

EDISON, N.J., Dec. 31 (ZFJ) — The Edison Town Council ejected a man from the council chambers for holding an American flag during public comment at the Nov. 25 combined meeting. The council also passed two ordinances to limit public comment time and grant the council president broad authority to restrict “disorderly” behavior at the dais.

Two ordinances related to the council’s public comment were on the agenda that night. The first, O.2233-2024, was to reduce the public comment time allotted to each person from six minutes with additional rebuttal time to four minutes without any rebuttal.

　

The second, O.2239-2024, dubbed the decorum ordinance, was to empower the council president to order the police to remove speakers for conduct or speech deemed disruptive to the council meeting. “Disorderly” conduct explicitly included wearing costumes or “non-medically necessary masks” and “the use of props while addressing the Council,” according to the ordinance, which included a provision that allows the council to adjourn if “restoration of order” is “infeasible or implausible.”

　

PUBLIC COMMENT ON ORDINANCES

Video: Proceedings from the Nov. 25 combined meeting of the Edison Township Council in connection with ordinances O.2233-2024 and O.2239-2024. Includes public discussion by community members and council members. EDISON TV/Livestream 　

Numerous residents who showed up to object to these two ordinances criticized them as blatant attempts to suppress the people’s opinions and concerns and violations of the First Amendment’s protection of free speech. Many people described the council as a “dictatorship.”

The first resident to speak during public comment on the time ordinance tore up a copy of the ordinance as an act of protest. He then held up a copy of the U.S. Constitution, which Council President Nishith Patel deemed a prop. Patel ordered that the speaker forfeit his time, and he was removed from the council chambers by police.

“This will be served as a prop as last discussed in the last meeting,” said Patel. “So if you continue to use it as a prop, the Constitution, then, take this as a warning, if you continue, you will forfeit your time.”

The official Edison TV livestream of the council meeting does not show the speaker’s symbolic actions or removal by police because the township had apparently stopped showing speakers at the dais on the stream.

Local attorney Joel Bassoff was the first to speak during public comment on the decorum ordinance. He asserted that the ordinance would violate the First Amendment if passed.

Video: Joel Bassoff is removed by police officers for holding an American flag. NEW BRUNSWICK TODAY/Charlie Kratovil 　

“You don’t like being embarrassed, so you’re trying to ban the people who humiliate you, but the best way to avoid humiliation is to avoid doing stupid things like trying to clamp down on constitutionally-protected symbolic speech,” said Bassoff to some laughter from the audience.

He then held up an American flag, which prompted Patel to order that he forfeit time and that he sit down. Bassoff continued speaking, so Patel ordered police officers to remove him from the meeting, and the council took a five minute recess.

Video taken by New Brunswick Today editor-in-chief Charlie Kratovil shows officers asking Bassoff to leave the municipal building. Police Chief Tom Bryan is seen telling Bassoff that the police have to enforce the council president’s order. The lawyer briefly reenters the chambers to collect his belongings and then leaves.

Further speakers questioned exactly how broad the council’s definition of a prop was and criticized Patel’s categorization of the American flag and U.S. Constitution as prohibited props. After Bassoff’s removal, Patel warned two more speakers for carrying these two items as props.

“Simply holding onto something in your hands, simply holding onto the flag, it can be disruptive, it can be distracting, but the use and deliberate use of things as a prop—it doesn’t matter what it is, it could be a bowling pin, it could be a giant clown shoe, it could be an American flag, regardless of what the actual thing is that is being utilized for your own purposes as a prop, that is what is prohibited,” said the township attorney, responding to a speaker and defending Patel.

COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENT - O.2233-2024 (TIME ORDINANCE)

Councilman Richard Brescher said that former Edison Mayor Jun Choi previously tried to reduce the public comment time at council meetings to four minutes and that Toni Ricigliano successfully ran for mayor to bring the time back. Seeing history repeat itself, Brescher said he would vote against the ordinance.

Councilman John H. Poyner said that reducing public comment time would increase the efficiency of meetings by reducing repetitive statements. He said he would vote for the ordinance.

Councilman Ajay Patil said that the existing system had worked for over 30 years. He argued that even giving 10 minutes to everyone wouldn’t be sufficient for what they had to say. Emphasizing the importance of allowing the residents to speak, he said he would vote against the ordinance.

Councilman Asaf Shmuel said that he believes four minutes would be sufficient time for residents to say everything they need to say. He said he would vote for the ordinance.

Patel said that the ordinance was not about saving time but encouraging better conversation, allowing more voices to be heard and focusing on the key issues.

“No one is taking away your right to speak,” said Patel. “You will still have the same freedom of speech that you always had.”

ROLL CALL - O.2233-2024 (TIME ORDINANCE)

YESNO
Joe CoyleRichard Brescher
John H. PoynerAjay Patil
Asaf Shmuel
Nishith Patel

Ordinance passes.

Council Vice President Margot Harris was not present at the meeting.

COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENT - O.2239-2024 (DECORUM ORDINANCE)

Poyner said that he spoke with people who expressed a desire for decorum at council meetings. He said that he doesn’t believe the ordinance violates the Constitution and announced that he would vote for it.

Brescher said the ordinance constituted “content-based prejudice” as the definition of a costume would be subject to the whims of the council. He said that he would vote against the ordinance.

Patil held up his own American flag and reminded the council of their oath to uphold the Constitution. He said that the issues people bring are what matter, not what they wear or hold. He said that he would vote against the ordinance.

Coyle said that the people who criticized the ordinance during public comment don’t speak for everyone. He said that some people don’t want to see costumes or props in the chambers. Arguing that the ordinance was necessary for upholding decorum, he said that he would vote for the ordinance.

Brescher responded to Coyle, saying that American freedoms should not be limited just because some people were offended. Patil also responded, saying that a true patriotic American would never consider the flag a prop.

Patel said that “these rules are not about limiting free speech but about maintaining order and ensuring respectful, focused debates.” He asserted that “theatrics and grandstanding” have been overshadowing residents’ issues.

“Now, some of us have asked about the symbols like the American flag and the Constitution, and yes, legally, they can be considered props when used performatively,” said Patel. “If you’re gonna use it as a performance and make a statement, yes, they can be used as a prop.”

ROLL CALL - O.2239-2024 (DECORUM ORDINANCE)

YESNO
Joe CoyleRichard Brescher
John H. PoynerAjay Patil
Asaf Shmuel
Nishith Patel

Ordinance passes.

Council Vice President Margot Harris was not present at the meeting.

MEETING GOES VIRAL

Kratovil’s video of Bassoff’s removal by police was reposted by the End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) Twitter account on Dec. 2 and quickly went viral nationally, garnering millions of views.

Council President Patel issued a statement on Facebook the next day saying that the council had not intended to ban the American flag.

“It was NEVER the intent of this council to ban the American flag,” wrote Patel. “In fact, nowhere in the ordinance is there even a reference to our nation’s flag being banned. If any of our remarks during the previous council meeting implied that, I apologize.”

“We are all proud Americans and respect the history, morals, and principles of our great nation.”

Edison Mayor Sam Joshi also issued a statement the next day saying that the American flag had not been banned. He said that he spoke with Patel about the matter.

“Our nation’s flag has never, EVER, been banned, nor will it ever be banned in our municipal complex, or any government building that we solely operate,” wrote Joshi. “We are all proud Americans who believe in the principles, morals, and values the American Flag represents.”

PREVIOUS REMOVALS OF SPEAKERS BY POLICE

Council President Patel is no stranger to removing people from council meetings using the police.

At the Aug. 26 council work session meeting, Patel is hearing a response from Business Administrator Sonia Alves-Viveiros when he interrupts her and says “please no talking from the—point of order, next time I will have to ask you to be removed, okay?” He then orders a police officer to remove former Councilwoman Joyce Ship-Freeman, who was in the audience, from the meeting.

At the Aug. 28 council meeting, resident Lois Wolke criticized a letter that arrived with her tax bill that only highlighted councilmen who voted in favor of the budget. She also expressed shock at Ship-Freeman’s removal just a few days before. Patel responded to Wolke, who attempted to speak further. However, Patel said that her time was up and asked the police to remove her. Wolke subsequently sat down without further incident and was not removed from the meeting.

At the Sept. 25 council meeting, retired township employee Carl Zimmerman angrily accused Councilman Joe Coyle of preventing him from doing his job in his final years with the municipal government. Zimmerman kept speaking once his time was up, so Patel said, “officers, please,” and the livestream shows that Zimmerman walked away from the podium.

At the Oct. 9 council meeting, resident Christo Makropoulos, wearing a black balaclava was escorted out of the meeting by police at Patel’s direction after he put on a Guy Fawkes mask right after he stepped up to the dais.

Another speaker, in a wheelchair, at the same meeting identified himself as being with SativaCross.org, a pro-cannabis organization, and sang a song with the sole lyric “disability rights are human rights” to the tune of The Star-Spangled Banner. Poyner called a point of order due to the man repeating the same line for over a minute in the song. Patel sustained the point of order, told the man that his time was forfeit, and asked officers to remove him.

Livestream video of the meeting by Kratovil shows Edison police Deputy Chief Robert Dudash, Jr., speaking to two police officers, who do not move to remove the man. The speaker then finishes his statement and moves back to the audience.

A third speaker at the Oct. 9 meeting, dressed in costume as a bong, identified himself as Bongholeleo and criticized the township for not showing speakers at the dais on the official Edison TV livestream. He then stepped in front of the dais so that the camera, zoomed in on the council, could see him. Patel asked officers to remove him too, but they stood down once he returned to the podium.

The man dressed as a bong then criticized the council for making the previous speaker in the wheelchair forfeit his time. He also condemned the township attorney and said that he’d been to many other council meetings as Bongholeleo. Finally, he started singing a song about bongs. Halfway through the song, Patel announced that his time was up and ordered officers to remove him.

A fourth speaker, Patrick Duff, identifying himself as a First Amendment activist, criticized the council for removing people for wearing masks during public comment, pointing out that Patel was wearing a surgical mask. He then brought a puppet who he said was N.J. Governor Phil Murphy to continue his criticisms of the council.

Finally, Duff put on a Guy Fawkes mask, prompting Patel to order police to remove him from the meeting. Officers stepped up to him but stood down after he put the mask on his head. He finally threatened to sue the council for violating his rights, putting the mask back onto his face. Kratovil’s video shows that he argued with the council further over the masks before three officers surrounded him and compelled him to leave.

Siddharth Perikala contributed to this report.

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