Town hall chaos instigated by GOP aide who 'infiltrated' opposition chat: report

A high-ranking campaign official for Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) appears to have infiltrated a private group chat involving the lawmaker's political opponents.

Someone using the mobile phone number belonging to the New York Republican's deputy district director Erin Crowley gained entrance to a Signal chat for the Fight Lawler organization and urged disruptive behavior at a town hall event, but that individual refused to reveal their identity when others suspected it was her, reported The Journal News.

“I can’t stand how he lies!” posted the mystery participant, who gained entrance to the chat using the name "Jake Thomas." “We should boo him off the stage!”

Crowley's name appeared next to the posts viewed by one Fight Lawler leader who had previously added her name as a contact, and the organization's co-founder Maureen Morrissey said all the evidence pointed to the GOP county legislator sneaking into the chat to apparently stir up trouble.

“She infiltrated our Signal group,” Morrissey said. “We are so sickened by it."

The 40-year-old Crowley, a first-term Putnam County legislator, was named Lawler’s deputy district director in 2023 and runs his district office at Carmel Town Hall, and she patrolled the aisles of the auditorium at a May 4 town hall event at Kennedy Catholic Prep in Somers, from which a 64-year-old protester was carried out by police.

“I got called on, I asked a question," said social worker Emily Feine. "The question was: ‘What was his red line? What would it take in terms of unconstitutional actions that the Trump administration was doing for him to finally exercise his oversight role and call for an end?’ and he didn't answer my question. He talked about appropriations. So I was frustrated, and I did call out, ‘Answer my question, answer my question, 'nd then the next person, he didn't answer their question either.”

The person using Crowley's number encouraged group chat participants to leave the auditorium to protest what they described as a crackdown on dissent or boo the lawmaker.

“Should we walk out en masse?” posted Thomas. “Make a point we won’t tolerate his bulls--- anymore.”

Fight Lawler co-founder Ann Starer told The Journal News she suspected Crowley, or someone using her number, was trying to incite and incident that might discredit the self-described moderate Republican's opponents.

"Walking out of the hall would have been to their benefit," Starer said. "That would have been great for them. I said on the chat that I didn't think it was a good idea."

Crowley's number is no longer connected to the Signal app, and neither she nor Lawler's director of communications responded to repeated requests for comment since the issue first was brought to a reporter's attention on May 20, and neither did a person controlling Jake Thomas' Facebook account, which shows only 26 friends and few identifying details.

“If you do not want to demonstrate that you are Jake Thomas and not Erin Crowley, then I guess the documentation that we have will speak for itself,” Starer wrote when she confronted the person who had infiltrated the group. “I would love to be wrong about this especially because I’d like to think that an elected official and Congressman Lawler’s deputy district director is not posing as someone else to infiltrate groups that oppose the Congressman.”

That person never responded to the challenge.