Atlanta Progressive News

 

Public image of Brooke Siskin used pursuant to Fair Use doctrine.

 

(APN) ATLANTA — A candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Ninth U.S. Congressional District has been arrested twice just this year, while at the same time having bizarre posts appear on her personal and campaign social media pages, Atlanta Progressive News can reveal.

 

Brooke Siskin, 51, is currently in a Run-off for the Democratic nomination with Devin Pandy.  

 

Siskin spoke with APN to tell her side of the story.

 

First, on March 06, 2020, she was arrested for disorderly conduct and criminal trespass at a BB&T bank branch in Lawrenceville, Georgia.  

 

http://www.gwinnettcountysheriff.com/smartwebclient/

 

Siskin says she incident at the branch–where she apparently became upset–had to do with a dispute involving an alleged withdrawal of funds by her ex-husband.

 

At the time, she was already subject to possible contempt charges in connection with her divorce proceeding from her ex-husband in Gwinnett County Superior Court.  

 

Siskin was supposed to have appeared in court on March 09, but she was in jail.   She missed the March 09 court hearing and March 10 court hearing the next day.

 

Her court hearing was reset for March 30, 2020, and she failed to appear in court, setting up contempt charges.

 

Siskin tells APN she thought the hearing was cancelled due to COVID-19.

 

Her second arrest occurred just on July 09, 2020, when Gwinnett County Superior Court Deborah Fluker ordered Siskin to serve four days in jail for contempt of court and for her failure to surrender guns pursuant to a previous court order.

 

Siskin said that this was a personal issue that she did not want to discuss in detail.  But she said that she only had one gun, and that she has now surrendered it.

 

“This has furthered my attempt to run because I want to be a voice for women who live in fear,” Siskin told APN.

 

Perhaps more noteworthy are Siskin’s stream of bizarre Facebook posts.

 

On February 26, 2020, the following post appeared to Siskin’s personal Facebook page: “Sorry to report but this is Brandi at Holiday Inn Express.  But Brooke Siskin died this morning in the lobby of our hotel.  Time of death 2:45 a.m.”   

 

The Facebook post appeared as posted from Wade Hampton, South Carolina, where there is, in fact, a Holiday Inn Express.

 

Dozens of friends and colleagues posted concerned comments on the post, and inquired about whether she was still alive.  Some even contacted the hotel.

 

One commenter wrote, “What?  I just called and spoke to Brandi at 1-864-800-5600 and this post isn’t true.  Call the number yourself!”

 

Another commenter wrote, “Well I just called the hotel and was told it’s NOT true.  The young lady who answered told me that the police is there [sic] at the moment trying to sort things out.  She said the young lady who they said ‘supposedly’ made the post is all shaken up and in a state of shock…”

 

One commenter then wrote: “I just spoke to Greenville Co. Police Department since Wade Hampton is their jurisdiction.  There is no report of a death… She is alive.  No other details besides that.  Now, let’s respect Brooke’s privacy.”

 

“I was hacked,” Siskin told APN, adding that while she did stay in Wade Hampton, she did not stay at the Holiday Inn Express.

 

As of today, nearly five months later, with Siskin now a potential U.S. Congresswoman, the post was still on Siskin’s personal Facebook page.  

 

She has not taken the post down, nor had she posted any responses to people’s concerns.

 

Then, on February 29, 2020, the following post appeared on “Brooke For Gwinnett”: “They took my blood and my bone marrow?  They took my daughter and gallbladder?  They took my father’s heart?”  

 

At the time, Siskin was running for Gwinnett County Chairperson.

 

The page, “Brooke for Gwinnett,” no longer appears on Facebook.

 

Siskin said she did not believe that two arrests disqualified her from running for U.S. Congress.  “If I’m correct, they just picked (State Sen.) Nikema Williams to replace (late-U.S. Rep) John Lewis.  She was arrested,” Siskin said, referring to Williams’s arrest at the Capitol for simply standing with protesting constituents.

 

“John Lewis was arrested,” she said, referring to U.S. Rep. Lewis’s long record of civil disobedience, in which he intentionally disobeyed laws that he deemed to be unjust.

 

(END / Copyright Atlanta Progressive News / 2020)