Ohio sheriff condemned for saying people with Harris yard signs should have their addresses recorded

[September 20, 2024]  By MICHAEL RUBINKAM

An Ohio sheriff is under fire for a social media post in which he said people with Kamala Harris yard signs should have their addresses recorded so that immigrants can be sent to live with them if the Democrat wins the presidency. Good-government groups called it a threat and urged him to remove the post.

Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski, a Republican in the thick of his own reelection campaign, posted a screenshot of a Fox News segment that criticized Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris over their immigration record and the impact on small communities like Springfield, Ohio, where an influx of Haitian migrants has caused a political furor in the presidential campaign.

Likening people in the U.S. illegally to "human locusts," Zuchowski wrote on a personal Facebook account and his campaign's account: “When people ask me... What’s gonna happen if the Flip-Flopping, Laughing Hyena Wins?? I say ... write down all the addresses of the people who had her signs in their yards!" That way, Zuchowski continued, when migrants need places to live, “we’ll already have the addresses of their New families ... who supported their arrival!”

Local Democrats filed complaints with the Ohio secretary of state and other agencies, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio wrote to Zuchowski that he had made an unconstitutional, “impermissible threat" against residents who want to display political yard signs.

Many residents understood the Sept. 13 post to be a “threat of governmental action to punish them for their expressed political beliefs,” and felt coerced to take down their signs or refrain from putting them up, said Freda J. Levenson, legal director of the ACLU of Ohio. She urged Zuchowski to take it down and issue a retraction.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, meanwhile, called Zuchowski’s comments “unfortunate” and “not helpful.”

Zuchowski defended himself in a follow-up post this week, saying he was exercising his own right to free speech and that his comments “may have been a little misinterpreted??” He said voters can choose whomever they want for president, but then “have to accept responsibility for their actions."

In this undated photo released by the Portage County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Bruce D. Zuchowski poses. Zuchowski, is under fire for a social media post in which he said people with Kamala Harris yard signs should have their addresses recorded so that immigrants can be sent to live with them if Harris wins. (Portage County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Zuchowski, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, spent 26 years with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, including a stint as assistant post commander. He joined the sheriff’s office as a part-time deputy before his election to the top job in 2020. He is running for reelection as the chief law enforcement officer of Portage County in northeast Ohio, about an hour outside of Cleveland.

The sheriff did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. His Democratic opponent in the November election, Jon Barber, said Zuchowski's post constituted “voter intimidation" and undermined faith in law enforcement.

The Ohio secretary of state's office said it did not plan to take any action.

“Our office has determined the sheriff’s comments don’t violate election laws,” said Dan Lusheck, a spokesperson for Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose. “Elected officials are accountable to their constituents, and the sheriff can answer for himself about the substance of his remarks.”

That didn't sit well with the League of Women Voters, a good-government group. Two of the league's chapters in Portage County wrote to LaRose on Thursday that his inaction had left voters “feeling abandoned and vulnerable.” The league invited LaRose to come to Portage County to talk to residents.

“We are just calling on Secretary LaRose to reassure voters of the integrity of the electoral process," Sherry Rose, president of the League of Women Voters of Kent, said in a phone interview. She said the league has gotten reports that some people with Harris yard signs have been harassed since Zuchowski's post.

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