A member of the Oakdale City Council resigned on Thursday, September 19 over social media posts regarding the death of conservative influencer and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
Christopher Smith has admitted to sharing a handful of posts about Kirk’s assassination online. One of the posts declared that Kirk had “arrived in Hell.”
Smith’s reposts “were widely viewed as disrespectful and not reflective of the standards I expect in public discourse,” said Oakdale Mayor Cherilyn Bairos. Critics also took issue with one of Smith’s social media profiles, in which he described himself as a “blue dot in an annoyingly red little Central California town.”
After discussions with Bairos, Smith voluntarily resigned to “help minimize further disruption to City business,” the mayor said.
Numerous public officials have come under fire for social media comments related to Kirk’s murder. A council member in another Stanislaus County city, Waterford, is also facing calls to resign after she declined to attend a vigil for Kirk. In a letter, Lise Talbott said Kirk had “associations with fascist ideology” — a claim his supporters dispute.
Read more at GV Wire.