LEE COUNTY – An ad hoc conversation surfaced Tuesday during the Lee County Board of Supervisors' regular meeting regarding the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
During the supervisors' report session, Chuck Holmes suggested that the county follow the lead of other counties and create a policy around hiring any employees who have celebrated an assassination publicly.
"All across the country there are many millions of people celebrating this assassination, and many governments are taking the position that they won't hire individuals who celebrate such an event and I'm wondering if we shouldn’t also take that position,” Holmes said.
Supervisor Ginger Knisley asked if the county had any policy in place that would address the issue.
Supervisor Chair Denise Fraise said the only issue in the policy is how you represent the county as an employee, but nothing in the hiring process. It was also pointed out that there are veteran preferences that the county has to consider when hiring.
Holmes said there’s going to be precedent set with this latest incident.
Supervisor Garry Seyb said he’s been thinking a lot about the reactions to the Kirk assassination.
“There’s been a highly emotional response to that and, when you start balancing that with first amendment rights, you have to look at the legal aspect of this,” he said.
“I think we have to be very careful. But how we represent the county matters in real time. What I see across the country is employers using that because of hate speech. But that’s not confined to an assassination.”
Seyb said there’s a higher burden of proof in the public service, while private employment is simpler to separate employment.
Fraise said the county’s law firm Lynch Dallas would likely be putting out some guidance in the wake of movements around the state and the country.
Holmes referenced a teacher in Oskaloosa who posted a slur on a social media outlet regarding the assassination.
“After the assassination, a teacher in Oskaloosa made a post... and the school immediately put the teacher on leave of absence and called for a school board meeting. Since then, that community has had over a thousand communications with the school, all in support of the firing of this teacher,” Holmes said.
Holmes said the district didn’t wait one week in terminating the employee.
Seyb referenced the chairman of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors who declined to drop the district's flags to half-staff per the direction of Gov. Kim Reynolds on the grounds he wouldn't do that for a man who insulted many of the people he's supposed to represent.
“At that point, what are we saying about an elected official?” Seyb said. “I think everyone needs to take a deep breath. The point here is that each person, in my opinion, is entitled to their own thoughts and opinions, but we need to understand when we put those out in a public space it could spur others to actions,” Seyb said.
No recommendations were made out of the discussion or any indication of further discussion at the meeting.
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