By Philip Newman
Plummer was scheduled to go on trial in federal court in Manhattan Feb. 25. Plummer, who lives in St. Albans, was fired from the City Council by Quinn, who accused Plummer of “disruptive behavior” after she threatened Councilman LeRoy Comrie (D-St.Albans) with assassination because of his abstention in a vote on proposed legislation naming a street for the late political activist Sonny Carson. She said “if it takes an assassination of his ass, he will not be borough president in the borough in which I live,” referring to Comrie's possible political ambitions.Plummer has since insisted she meant only the assassination of Comrie's political career. Plummer, Barron and several other political activists took part in a news conference on City Hall steps Tuesday. Attorneys Roger Wareham and Noah Kinigstein said the city Corporation Council had already appealed the case in an attempt to postpone the trial.”Last month Federal Judge William Pauley denied the defendant's summary judgment motion to provide 'qualified immunity' for Quinn,” Wareham said. “Now the city has filed an appeal to the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals to try to reverse Judge Pauley's decision and has asked the judge to delay the trial,” Wareham said. Wareham said the city might try a delaying strategy to outlast Plummer's lawyers “in an attempt to exhaust our resources,” but they predicted she would prevail. “We are with her in this and will remain with her,” Wareham said. Plummer sued Quinn (D-Manhattan) on the grounds that she was illegally fired in violation of her First Amendment right to freedom of speech. “Speaker Quinn had no legal right to fire my chief of staff,” Barron said. Plummer's outspokenness followed a City Council hearing over a proposed name change of Gates Avenue in Brooklyn to Sonny Abubadika Carson Avenue. Plummer made the “assassination” remark to a reporter on the steps of City Hall after the hearing.Comrie was given a security detail the day Plummer made the remark. He discontinued the protection shortly afterward but called for Plummer to be fired. Quinn fired Plummer July 9. Two weeks later Plummer, escorted by Barron, returned to City Hall but was banished to the balcony as a visitor since her official City Council identification card had been cancelled.
