A Saratoga Conservative Party official is facing calls to resign after uttering racial slurs during a Saratoga Springs city council meeting Tuesday.
Saratoga County Conservative Party Chairman David Buchyn quoted racist remarks from a 2020 video verbatim during the city council meeting, sparking outrage.
Saratoga Springs Republican Chairman Mike Brandi called for Buchyn’s resignation, calling his conduct reprehensible.
“We unequivocally and in no uncertain terms condemn the use of racist language by any individual. Particularly one holding a position of influence in our community,” said Brandi.
Buchyn, who worked on Republican Mayor John Safford’s 2023 campaign, said he did not intend to create any additional tension. Brandi rejects that.
“I think it’s disingenuous for Buchyn to suggest that he was not trying to rile people up. What he did is the equivalent of walking into a movie theater and yelling ‘fire!’ It’s no secret that our city council meetings have been tense on these issues. We had the OAG report, and before the OAG report. For years, we’ve had BLM attendees who show up and they’re loud, and they’re intimidating, and Dave knew exactly what he was doing by going in there. It was not productive, it was counter-productive, and I think it regressed the city council meetings a bit,” said Brandi.
BLM activists were unfairly targeted by former city officials, according to a report by the state attorney general.
Buchyn on Wednesday apologized for quoting the four-year-old video where Saratoga BLM leader Lex Figuereo yells racial epithets at Earl Wallace, a local Black pastor and Conservative activist.
“Maybe his words are so vile and disgusting that they shouldn’t be repeated. But I’m not going to sit there and let Black people be called those words,” said Buchyn.
Buchyn, who spoke with WAMC on Wednesday morning, declined to answer questions after Brandi’s call for his resignation hours later. Buchyn referred WAMC to a spokesperson for the New York State Conservative Party.
Spokesperson Bill O’Reilly dismisses Brandi’s words as “a local Republican leader trying to topple a Conservative Party leader. It's politics at its worst. Time to move on.”
Mayor Safford implemented a set of rules in January forbidding the use of profane language.
“You know the one comment, even though it was quoting, was just out of order. And the speaker did sit down when I asked him to sit down. But, on the other side, there are people who just spit vile language that just doesn’t fit at all within the program. So, the question is, ‘what is free speech?’ And that’s been something I’m struggling with and how to address that,” said Safford.
City Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi, a Democrat who is running for state Senate, says there needs to be consistency in the application of the mayor’s public meeting rules.
“This is not just a one-party or one issue question. You had a lot of people who were upset about short-term rental regulations that were also coming and hooting and hollering in the rooms. So, this is not just a BLM issue, I want to make sure we are clear about that. The second thing is, no matter what, if you use racist slurs in a meeting, you should be stopped right away, you should be asked to leave. That sort of despicable, reprehensible language should never have been allowed,” said Sanghvi.
Safford acknowledges there’s still progress to be made toward his campaign promise to preside over more civil public meetings.
