NORTHAMPTON – Newly-appointed Human Rights Commission member Tara Ganguly says she is no longer interested in serving the city after the Gazette aired some of her controversial tweets in a story published Tuesday.

Ganguly, a Northampton attorney, has sent out tweets that encourage people to commit suicide, criticize Black Lives Matter protestors as ineffective, and say that the mother of Ferguson police shooting victim Michael Brown was “not mom of the year.”

She was recommended for a seat on the commission by Mayor David J. Narkewicz through an application process, vetted by At-Large Councilor Ryan O’Donnell and approved by a unanimous City Council vote on Thursday. But neither said they knew of Ganguly’s active social media presence.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Ganguly said she had not yet been officially sworn to serve on the commission and does not plan on doing so. She criticized the story published on her Twitter activity, calling it a “hatchet job.”

“I don’t believe the people in the community are going to be able to look past a sensationalist, cherry-picked story that does not encompass me as a person in any way, shape or form,” she said. “I was cut off at the knees before I had a chance to do anything.”

The Human Rights Commission is the body charged with advocating for and informing city residents of civil rights issues locally. Five members left in recent months, some objecting to the commission’s limited, advisory role. Three of those positions were filled with the council’s vote Thursday.

Ganguly said she uses provocative language in some of her tweets as a rhetorical device. The selected, controversial tweets published Tuesday, including one where Ganguly encouraged “morons” to kill themselves, were taken “completely out of context,” she said.

“I think that not everything should be taken literally,” she said. “If you read through thousands of other things that I’ve tweeted, yeah I’ve got some strong opinions.”

She said that she would rather feel free to express her opinions than open herself up to the scrutiny of serving on a public board. As to whether this incident has changed how she sees social media, Ganguly said she is uncertain.

Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com