Hogan Staffer Fired for Social Media Posts Hires Attorney Representing Kenosha Shooter
The former Hogan administration official who was fired for posting social media memes supporting the teenager arrested for firing into a crowd of protesters in Kenosha, Wis., has retained the attorney who is representing the Kenosha shooter.
In a statement released Thursday, supporters of Arthur “Mac” Love IV, the deputy director of the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives who was fired Aug. 29, said Love has hired lawyer John Pierce and that Pierce has filed an administrative appeal with the state seeking to have Love reinstated.
Pierce also is defending Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old from Illinois who brought a semi-automatic rifle to Kenosha one night in late August and opened fire on a crowd of protesters who were demanding racial justice for Jacob Blake, a Black man shot in the back by a white police officer days earlier. Rittenhouse’s supporters say he was defending himself from an increasingly hostile crowd.
In the aftermath of Rittenhouse’s arrest, Love posted a photo on his private Facebook page of a white police officer holding two thumbs up, with the caption, “Don’t be a thug if you can’t take a slug!” Another post featured a photo of actor Leonardo DiCaprio raising a glass of champagne with the caption, “When you see a skateboard wielding Antifa chickens*** get smoked by an AR toting 17-yr-old.”
Love was fired soon after his social media posts came to light. His boss in the governor’s office, Steven J. McAdams, a lifelong friend of Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R), called the posts “divisive.”
But Pierce and Love’s other supporters contend that Love was simply exercising his First Amendment rights and that his firing was unconstitutional. What’s more, they claim that Love was expressing his support for Rittenhouse’s right to self-defense.
“The value of Mr. Love’s speech outweighs any potential damage,” Pierce wrote this week in an administrative filing with Mona A. Vaidya, director of Financial Administration in the governor’s office. “His dialogue with other citizens about Kyle Rittenhouse’s actions was an important exercise in constitutional debate. Government employees in particular have a duty to stand up for citizens who are wrongfully accused or oppressed.”
Pierce’s filing details Love’s connections with Hogan and also takes issue with the timeline the Hogan administration laid out over Love’s firing. It asks the state to reinstate Love in his government position.
“Mr. Love is a patriot who takes great pride in his service to the citizens of Maryland,” Pierce wrote. “His greatest desire is to return to his public employment and continue his service. Mr. Love does not desire to drag this out for public spectacle and would be open to reassignment with comparable compensation if reinstated.”
Get your own daily morning news roundup in your inbox. Free. Sign up here.
Josh Kurtz
Founding editor
Founding Editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well. Kurtz regularly gives speeches and appears on TV and radio shows to discuss Maryland politics.
Related Articles
Two powerful Black officeholders from Prince George’s turn against their county executive, while The Washington Post editorial board takes sides in the primary.
‘The liquor store was open during COVID, but not the reentry programs,’ an advocate notes.
Leaders highlight the GOP Senate candidate’s history of vetoing legislation on health care, housing bills during his term as governor.
Creative Commons Attribution