Long Island town hired self-described ‘bigot’ to fight local mosque expansion in federal discrimination case: court docs

In a federal discrimination case, a Long Island town has come under scrutiny for hiring a traffic expert, Jeffrey Buckholz, who faces allegations of harboring extreme anti-Muslim sentiments, physical violence against colleagues, and providing a questionable traffic study related to a local mosque, as outlined in court documents.

During a pre-trial deposition on October 3, Buckholz acknowledged that he could be perceived as a “bigot” amidst an ongoing legal dispute between the Town of Oyster Bay and the Muslims of Long Island (MOLI) group, which is advocating for the expansion of a mosque in Bethpage.

Upon reviewing Buckholz’s LinkedIn profile, which was found to contain numerous racist and anti-Muslim comments, MOLI’s attorneys summoned him for a deposition last week, where he reaffirmed his offensive viewpoints.

Under oath, Buckholz admitted that many might classify his opinions on Muslims and immigrants as bigoted, as recorded in the official deposition transcript.

His social media activity included expressing approval of a post that stated, “Muslims can f–k off.” He also remarked, “they want to conquer us” in response to a post about New York City Mayor Eric Adams recognizing the birthday of Prophet Muhammad as an official holiday, and he made a purported joke regarding migrants amidst controversial social media discussions, as detailed in the court documents and accompanying screenshots.

Rather than retracting his statements, Buckholz stood by them during his deposition.

He declared that he opposed “importing outside cultures into the United States,” which he described as a “Christian nation,” labeled the Islamic call to prayer as “atrocious,” and went as far as claiming that aspiring mayor Zohran Mamdani presents “a bigger threat to New York than the 9/11 hijackers,” as revealed in the deposition transcript.

Buckholz also acknowledged that his critical traffic analysis of the mosque relied primarily on Google Maps images and a brief five-minute site visit before he submitted his findings, according to the transcript.

“I’ve been doing this for 40 years. I know what I’m looking at—Google Maps and experience tell you a lot,” Buckholz stated when asked why he didn’t conduct thorough traffic counts or refer to other factual data in his analysis, only asserting “common sense” in reaching the conclusion that there are “severe traffic safety issues” at the mosque’s location, as cited in court records.

However, attorneys for MOLI contended that extensive traffic and parking assessments conducted by the town’s own engineers and Nassau County officials had already determined the mosque’s proposal to be safe and compliant, thereby contradicting the very claims Buckholz later reiterated in his report.

MOLI’s legal team is now urging the court to dismiss Buckholz’s report entirely and prevent him from testifying, characterizing his analysis as “irrevocably tainted by prejudice, violence, and fabrication,” with his traffic study being referred to as a “sham” by Linklaters’ attorneys.

“His testimony is not only unreliable but dangerously affected by bias,” declared Linklaters lawyer Muhammad Faridi to The Post, emphasizing that Buckholz’s history of violence undermines his credibility.

Documents reviewed by The Post indicated a long-standing pattern of aggressive behavior, including his expulsion from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for violently assaulting a fellow student and a ruling by the Florida Department of Transportation that permanently prohibited him from engaging in state contracts after he physically assaulted an inspector and pushed a female coworker.

Judges in both connected cases have characterized him as possessing a violent temperament and a history of abusive behavior, according to court records.

In an email from his professional account, Buckholz insisted to The Post that his “personal feelings have no bearing on the quality of my professional work.”

The Town of Oyster Bay, which previously acknowledged fabricating a fictitious witness and enacting laws specifically targeting the mosque under oath earlier this year, has subsequently supported Buckholz—denouncing MOLI’s bid to eliminate his testimony as a politically motivated smear orchestrated by a “foreign-based law firm.”

“President Trump’s name, immigration policies, and core American values are being dragged into depositions and background searches, proving political beliefs are fueling this frivolous case. It’s wrong!” stated Town Attorney Frank Scalera.

The case, which once seemed resolved, is now more contentious than ever as the Justice Department has intervened while both parties prepare for an extended legal battle.