WEST NYACK, NY — The town hall-style event last Sunday featuring Congressman Mike Lawler ended on a tense note – after a verbal altercation between two attendees drew attention from both social media and local observers.
According to a statement from Lauren-Marie Wohl, the incident occurred just after the formal portion of the event concluded. “The event was over, the lights were on, people were rustling around and the crowd was getting up, leaving,” she recalled. “I was coming down the aisle, and Brooke was having a backand forth exchange with the Congressman.”
During this time, Brooke Malloy, was reportedly still engaging Congressman Lawler on stage when she allegedly shouted, “You son of a bitch.”
According to video accounts of around this timeframe, Lawler seems to have replied “Brooke…Brooke…you really need to stop.” While the camera did not pan to the audience at that point, eyewitness accounts varied.
Rockland News reached out to both attendees to get their respective sides of what happened, off camera. Ms. Malloy did not wish to provide a comment for this article, at the time of the phone call.
Ms. Wohl’s Version of the Exchange
Wohl stated that in response to what she described as “abusive verbiage,” toward Congressman she told Malloy to “shut the fuck up,” a comment she confirmed via phone interview. “I’m not going to deny that,” she said, defending her outburst as a reaction to Malloy’s language directed at the congressman. “I was coming down the aisle, she was coming out and she screamed at him, ‘”‘You son of a bitch.’ So after she screamed, you son of a bitch, that is when I proceeded.”
Wohl criticized what she perceived as selective outrage, stating, “If [Malloy] is going to condemn me for raising my voice, she should condemn 90% of that auditorium who was screaming, chanting slurs at him, screaming ‘Hail Hitler,’ ‘Free Palestine,’ booing the congressman during the anti-Semitism awareness segment of the night. It was horrific and horrendous.”
Wohl also asserted to Rockland News that she did not in any way push or brush against Ms. Malloy, as several has suggested. “I spoke as a constituent and you know if she wants to come at me over this, I still have my First Amendment right as all the other people in the room were claiming they had as well in there.”
The heated exchange has sparked broader conversations in the community – both online and in business circles in Rockland about standards of conduct at political events, the boundaries of free speech, and how public figures and community leaders engage in political discourse. In several recent events that Congressman Lawler has spoken, numerous protestors have shown up to voice their concerns with Congressman Lawler’s stance on various issues. Even on Indivisible Rockland’s website, it suggests that protestors should adhere to certain levels of civility during tense events:
However, this has not always been the case. In an recent RBA event at the Hotel Nyack, protestors stormed the event with signs, which led to several physical altercations.
Luckily, the Sunday Town Hall event did not seemingly escalate to that point.
Possible Causes of End of Evening Escalation
One of significant note that garnered the attention of several questions at this Town Hall, was the $880 billion budget reconciliation bill and modifications that is currently in front of Congress.
Lawler stated the parts of the budget cuts that he was for and against, multiple times during the event.
However, when the issue of Medicaid and funding for various social programs – including LGBTQ+ programs which Ms. Malloy has passionately advocated for in recent years – many audience members were clear to provide full-throated responses.
At the time of publication, Ms. Malloy has not publicly responded to the questions related to this end-of-event exchange. In prior years, Lawler and Malloy had been on friendlier terms, based on several public event images that Rockland News found on social media. By all Sunday accounts, that friendship seems to have soured in recent months, with the likely centerpiece for the rift – funding changes for LGBTQ+ related initiatives in Congressional District 17.
We did not reach out to Congressman Lawler’s office regarding the incident. Mainly because we’re going to write other stories now.