An administrative coordinator for the Escondido City Manager’s Office has been forced to step down after revelations that he operates an anti-Semitic website and regularly contributes to white supremacist publications.
John Friend, 29, was hired by the city as a division coordinator just three months ago to carry out a variety of clerical tasks. Unbeknownst to the city, however, was a website Friend ran claiming, among other things, that Israel was responsible for the 9/11 attacks and that the Holocaust is hoax perpetrated by a “Jewish dominated media.” If that weren’t bad enough, the ex-employee also told a reporter that he counts Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels among his mentors.
Friend, an at-will employee, was given the choice between resignation or termination on Wednesday. He chose the former, saying he always believed his end with the city was inevitable anyway.
In an email to the San Diego Union-Tribute, Friend said he neither publicized nor actively tried to conceal his beliefs from city officials. The city has consistently denied any prior knowledge of Friend’s radical opinions.
Read more about Friend’s resignation here.