Prince George’s council members allege Chair Krystal Oriadha silenced them during meetings

Two Prince George’s County Council members have alleged that Chair Krystal Oriadha violated state law and “silenced” them during a meeting on Oct. 20.

In a letter sent Sunday to the Office of the Attorney General, County Attorney Anthony Jones and county oversight bodies, council members Jolene Ivey and Sydney Harrison alleged that Oriadha and council Administrator David Murray knowingly violated the state Open Meetings Act and the county charter.

Ivey and Harrison wrote that Oriadha refused to recognize them during last week’s public meeting that was focused on a nonprofit closely tied to one of their council colleagues.

The council members said their microphones were “muted and kept muted so that they could not be heard by the other members or the public.”

They have requested a ruling on whether Oriadha and Murray violated the Open Meetings Act.

They’re also asking for an investigation into the Oct. 20 meeting and Oriadha’s alleged pattern of silencing dissent, which they claimed includes threatening staff members.

“The Chair must be held accountable for following the charter, the rules of procedure, and the Maryland Open Meetings Act, which no council member has the right to set aside or abuse,” Ivey and Harrison wrote in their complaint.

Oriadha did not respond to a request for comment.

Council spokesperson Rahwa Andemichael said in a statement on behalf of the council administrator that “we will review the complaint and the record of the October 20 meeting before commenting further.”

In their complaint, Ivey and Harrison alleged that they “have been provided with insight to an atmosphere of hostility, illegal demands, and unethical requests to have staff mute, silence, ignore, and skirt rules and laws.”

Ivey and Harrison wrote that staff responsible for the council’s audio and visual systems have some control over council members’ microphones but are instructed to never mute a council member without direction from the chair or the council administrator.

Oriadha uses a control panel on the dais to select whose microphones are active and to censor certain council members, the complaint alleges.

The council members also claimed that Murray “was observed” during the Oct. 20 meeting instructing staff to keep Ivey’s and Harrison’s microphones muted.

Both Ivey and Harrison told reporters immediately following the meeting that they had been prevented from asking questions of leaders from the presenting organization, Joan’s House, because their microphones had been disabled.

Ivey and Harrison have called for independent audits of Joan’s House, which is closely tied to council member Edward Burroughs, and another organization, Community on the Frontline, which is run by Oriadha’s friend who is also the godmother to her child.

County Executive Aisha Braveboy requested that the millions of dollars the council awarded to Community on the Frontline be returned and called for an investigation.

As part of that probe, last week the Office of Audits and Investigations issued subpoenas requesting that county agencies and the council’s grant office protect relevant records.

On Friday, U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks called recent reports about the controversies surrounding council funding “deeply disturbing.”

The microphone issue emerged again during the council’s meeting Monday.

Oriadha allowed council member Tim Adams a “point of personal privilege,” during which he asked his colleagues to keep in their thoughts and prayers for the family of a woman who he said was killed in Greenbelt over the weekend.

Ivey then asked Oriadha for permission to speak, but the chair refused and moved on with the meeting.

Although her microphone was off, Ivey could be heard within the council chambers saying she wanted to acknowledge the recent death of former state Del. Barbara Frush, with whom she served in Annapolis.