Gary Swensen is a Trumpist Yankton County Commissioner who posted this cartoon to Facebook last month suggesting that killing politicians is “community service“:
This sentiment is Trumpist in many ways: it’s uncivil, un-Christian, and ignorantly hypocritical. Swensen himself, as a sitting county commissioner, is a politician, as is anyone else who cares enough about his community to get involved in public discussion of the policies under which we manage our polis. We cannot serve our community by saying those who serve the community deserve a violent demise. One must be at least ignorant, if not antipathetic to the community as a whole, to say such a thing.
Another symptom of Trumpism: Swensen posts almost nothing original on Facebook: his timeline is a dreary stream of generic national-level Trumpist pablum lifted from other sources that tell us almost nothing about what’s happening in his own life or community. Constant regurgitation of things Trumpist propaganda is a sure sign that one clings to social media to reinforce one’s own prejudices, not to really educate and make a difference in one’s community.
All that generic Trumpist Facebooking may be distracting Commissioner Swensen engaging in the community affairs that he’s somehow been elected to conduct:
Commissioner Swensen, in addition to his posting habits, has a history of abdicating many of his duties as commissioner. For the majority of his tenure, Swensen has refused to take part in executive sessions for no stated reason. He has skipped budget meetings and other special county functions.
Swensen has also exhibited a number of instances of questionable behavior. During the Oct. 16, 2018, meeting of the Yankton County Commission, he seemingly likened other board members to historical leaders like Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. At the following commission meeting — the first since the election — Swensen stormed out of the meeting early on. He would not return again until the new commission was seated in January, in part due to a surgery he had in the interim [editorial, “Crossing the Line,” Yankton Press & Dakotan, 2019.08.01].
Swensen’s serve-by-killing post may also be read as a Mussolini-style threat against the Yankton City Council:
On July 30, Gary Swensen, Yankton County commissioner, posted on Facebook’s Yankton Buzz group a meme in the comments section below a share of a KYNT recording about the Yankton City budget from last week. As of this writing, the group’s administrators Randy Gleich, Mary Lou Mueller and Emily Hohenthaner Radech have chosen not to delete the post; a morally questionable decision. It is also visible on Swensen’s personal page.
…There is a bit of irony to Swensen’s invocation of historical dictators, though. Stalin would kill politicians he felt were a challenge to him. Hitler purged members of the Nazi Party that he didn’t feel sufficiently toed the line — at times having the executions filmed for his viewing pleasure. Mussolini gave a speech in which he took personal responsibility and pride in ordering “squadristi” violence. These were the men that saw the killing of politicians as a “public service.”
A politician joking on social media about killing politicians shows, at best, extremely poor judgment.
At worst, it’s a threat to the members of Yankton’s City commission — people with which Swensen should be working and not calling for their execution [Yankton P&D, 2019.08.01].
The Yankton City Commission responded this week by banning Commissioner Swensen from City Hall until August 1, 2020. The letter from city attorney Ross Den Herder to Swensen says that Facebook post is just the latest in a pattern of irresponsible behavior that justifies this ban:
This decision is based on the following reasons:
(1) Your recent social media postings perceived as threatening to City staff and its elected officials;
(2) Past inappropriate behavior and statements that you made in City Hall; and
(3) Past Interactions with City staff and officials that have been reported to the City Manager as having made City staff uncomfortable [Yankton City Attorney Ross Den Herder, letter to Yankton County Commissioner Gary Swensen, posted by David Leonard, KYNT Radio, 2019.08.13].
Swensen’s conduct is as clearly reprehensible as the conduct of the man who stood on a Sioux Falls street getting YouTube attention by shouting the f-word and flipping the bird at cops last Friday. But the Yankton City Council’s response is as constitutionally questionable as the SFPD’s response of tackling and arresting the objectionable speaker.
The City of Austin, Texas, tried to ban everybody from hanging out on the plaza outside its city hall during the Occupy protests, and a federal judge said the city couldn’t do that, even against protestors who had prior arrests. The City of Statham, Georgia, tried to ban specific individuals who annoyed them with questions and open-records requests, and they ended up dropping the bans (and in one case, paying big bucks to settle) to end lawsuits.
The City of Yankton is denying Swensen access to government officials, records, and services without due process. Swensen has not been charged with a crime… and I don’t think City Attorney Den Herder will be able to cook up a criminal charge for reposting an objectionable but generic and trite cartoon. And even criminals, once they’re out of jail, can walk in to watch a city council meeting… or participate in meetings of a cross-jurisdictional public safety committee to which one has been appointed.
Argument over this city hall ban assumes that Swensen would even bother to go to city hall. But City Hall belongs to all citizens, even the dipsticks. Banning Swensen for a year from Yankton City Hall may feel good, but it won’t hold up in court if challenged.
Related Imagery: The Yankton County Commission hasn’t taken any overt action against Swensen… but they have chosen for their website banner a photo that omits Swensen from their ranks:
Perhaps Swensen himself declined to be in the picture. The profile photos below that banner show that Swensen appears not to like posting photos that would allow people to recognize him and stop him on the street with, “Hey, Mr. Commissioner, I’d like to talk about my property taxes”:
While Commissioners Klimisch, Loest, Kettering, and Healy post photos that would help us pick them out in a crowd, Swensen chooses to stand next to big camouflaged Army machinery… which invites a variety of metaphorical observations about Trumpist inadequacy….
Commissioner Swensen sounds like a typical dime a dozen Trumpist social media troll. They are legion and think the world owes them despite their anti-social behavior.
Let’s see: glorifying violence against authorities. That would include, of course, Donald Trump, who is a politician, and that could be interpreted as a threat of assassination against the President. It’s anti-Christian in that it makes light of violating a commandment. Clearly it is aimed squarely against the Catholic Church, as it attacks a Catholic practice. It seems to make light of laws duly passed by the Legislature of South Dakota, and particularly the statutes against murder. Since he is a politician, and he seems to call for the murder of politicians it might be, in some sense, a cry for help. Is he wanting to go down in a blaze of glory?
That guy is, quite clearly, not only “deplorable,” but may be a threat to himself and anyone he might meet in the street or in county offices. His behavior, as described in the editorial and article is not normal, not in the least. For his sake, and the sake of the community, I hope he is picked up and evaluated.
I’m sorry. I think the other commissioners are completely reasonable in placing some restrictions of people who, quite obviously, aren’t behaving according to norms. Behaving like a dipstick is one thing. Boosting murder is a step too far.
I think another salient point here is the lack of understanding that you are culpable for what you choose to promote in social media. Posting memes and retweeting conspiracy theories is paramount to endorsing those views, despite claims to the contrary.
Our POTUS has provided a poor precedent.
Both the municipal and county boards have legal authority to discipline and expel their members. And both have legal authority under state law to establish rules of procedure. Here a city commission is taking action against a county commissioner. If the charges of dereliction of duty are accurate, the county commission could discipline or remove the commissioner for disorderly conduct and absence from duties as part of its legislative responsibility. Such transgressions would, or should be, part of the record of proceedings, and the commission could take actions against him as part of its legislative business. The city commission in ordering the city attorney to ban Swensen and then informing the county commission of its action is working under its procedural authority and seems to be forcing the county commission to address the issue they have with Swensen.
That matter of how far procedural authority extends came up in Brown County recently. When you enter the court house, you are confronted with posters on the doors that state no firearms are permitted. With the state allowing the right to carry firearms in the Capitol and to conceal carry without a permit, those notices raised the ire of some gun fanatics, and they went to a lawyer about their rights being violated. The lawyer informed them that the state laws prohibiting firearms in county courthouses are still in effect, but that county and city governments also have the authority to establish rules for the conduct of business within their jurisdiction without intimidation or interference and with safety and efficiency.
Some years ago, schools and local government agencies had rules against the insult and abuse of their personnel while working on their properties. The rules were largely rescinded because they were written in ways that seemed to conflict with freedom of speech. But now, spurred by the Me Too movement, those rules are being re-examined, especially in terms of free speech that infringes on the rights of others to do their jobs in an environment that is not hostile, their rights not to be defamed, and to channel the redress of grievances through peaceable assembly and presentation. Local governments have an inherent right to address those conditions through the legislative processes.
A good summary of First Amendment rights is the following:
“But the First Amendment can’t protect Internet and social media users who forget that the free speech guarantee isn’t a free pass to saying whatever you want without facing consequences. That’s because while the First Amendment protects some kinds of speech (that is, you can say or do it), there’s no requirement that other people (such as employers, fraternal organizations, or schools) have to associate with you once you do. You can be fired, lose a professional license, or face a range of litigation for doing or saying things that, while they may be protected speech, violate other laws or contracts.”
Read more at https://www.business2community.com/social-media/7-things-the-first-amendment-doesnt-protect-0129234
Morons like this guy have always been out there but the election of trump has only served to boost and encouraged them like I feared it would. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if he was re-elected
I’m pretty sure that one of the causes of action for removal from elected office is nonfeasance (failure to perform one’s duties of office). Seems Mr. Swenson qualifies for removal.
We are having to find our way legally and Constitutionally as we begin to act on “red flag warnings” when people have made threats or seem to be a danger, but before they have committed a crime.
Banning Gary Swensen from Yankton City Hall is similar to imposing a restraining order, is it not? Maybe that’s what they need to do?
There is soooo much more to this story…and it isn’t about Swensen’s politics, or his bad taste in cartoons. For the record, the previous commission treated him like dirt. He stopped going to executive sessions because they treated him like dirt, and because of the lawsuits going on against the county at that time. Swensen was also having health problems at that time. He hasn’t had any problems with the new commissioners, nor has he skipped any executive sessions. Don’t know about the budget meetings, because they are during the day. Could check the minutes, though.
The reason Swensen isn’t in the group photo is because he was in the VA hospital recovering from heart bypass surgery. That was a cheap shot, Cory. You should ask why Kettering removed his biography (banker, investor in YAPG, member of GOED) from the county page.
There are some interesting discussions on Yankton Buzz if anyone is interested:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1449968548666347/permalink/2299988466997680/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1449968548666347/permalink/2303484369981423/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1449968548666347/permalink/2301089050220955/
There are more…just search under Gary Swensen’s name.
Gary Swensen is a Trumper. I don’t agree with his politics at all. Not even close. Eww. But that anonymous editorial (whose words are amazingly nearly identical to emails written by the mayor) needs to be taken with a HUGE grain of salt. There is an agenda behind it.
If I were still writing editorials back there, I would have made this guy’s life a living hell! Buy, I sure miss those days!!
I was thinking along lines similar to Fairburn. It seems that Swenson implies threats, at the least, so some type of order of protection might apply.
Makes me wonder why the people in his district want to be so poorly represented.
@Dave Baumeister…the guy who wrote that editorial IS making his life hell.
Debbo, I imagine the folks that elected him only knew that he was under the { R } box and that was good enough!
He IS in the right town for an “evaluation”.
ONLY in Feral America – where conservatives fantasize about shooting each other as well as others.
Yankton is hardly a bastion of civilized people in South Dakota.
Fairburn, I respect the usefulness of restraining orders… but does City Hall have legal authority to issue such orders, or should they have to go to court and get a judge to rule they have grounds for abridging a citizen’s rights in that fashion?
The ban order doesn’t just apply to city hall. It gives all department heads the authority to ban him from any city-owned property, such as parks, library, pool, trails, parking lots…all without even a hint of due process. So far, tptb at city hall are the only ones who have done so.
Cathy, good to know someone is getting after him! But are you talking about this editorial by Cory, or is there another. If so, I’d love to read that! It doesn’t seem like Kelly Hertz or Brian Hunhoff would let this go by without comment.
Dave, the original anonymous editorial was printed on the front page of the Yankton P&D. No one will admit to writing it.
Cathy, If they don’t list a writer, then it is the opinion of the paper, but it is very unlike the P&D to do something like that. However, this sounds like something that should so incense the community, I am glad they did it.
Swensen gave a public apology at the County Commission Meeting, August 6. You can read it in the official meeting minutes here:
https://templator-admin.azurewebsites.net/Uploads/documents/25/minutes/78064_August%206,%202019.pdf
A few minutes later, Nathan Johnson read a statement that included the banning order. His full statement does not appear in the minutes because he didn’t ask to have it made part of the record.
You can watch both statements being read on the meeting video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t–LYXXGujc
The standing room only crowd of seniors were there for the budget discussion involving the senior center.
Thanks!
If Gary Swensen is against big hog CAFO’s I have to side with him even if he is a far right Trumpist!
The original article published in the Yankton Press and Dakotan is full of hyperbole and outright lies. No one bothered to fact check anything, or contact any of the people called out for comment. In using that article as basis for yet another smear article, and again not contacting anyone for comment, Dakota Free Press has been equally irresponsible. This saddens me, because I have been a fan of the site for a very long time.
Fact check people. It’s important.
Yes, I meant that instead of taking it upon themselves to issue a ban that the commission would need to go through the legal process of getting a restraining order. (Unless there is some legal authority to issue a ban that I haven’t heard of.)
If people think Swensen is an imminent threat, then police should be called to stop him at the door, even before a restraining order is obtained.
There should be due process for everyone and small-town personal bickering shouldn’t be allowed, no matter which side people are on, or what history they have fighting with each other.
There have been too many times that threats are ignored and something bad happens. We need to set up a system that follows due process but that also prevent problems immediately.
Clyde, I will happily continue my outspoken opposition to Mickelson-CAFOs, and I am glad to have anyone of any party join grassroots activists in that opposition. I celebrated Stace Nelson’s effective opposition to a big CAFO proposal in Hanson County in 2012. But Stace Nelson didn’t hurt his own cause that year by posting language that the local and state officials involved in reviewing the proposal could use against him to distract from the main issue and blunt the effectiveness of the opposing organizations.
We can be on the side of an individual or group on an important issue and still criticize and hold them accountable for uncivil, counterproductive behavior.
I have not been irresponsible. I have pointed out that an ally of CAFO opponents has hurt their cause by engaging in irresponsible, uncivil behavior. I have also pointed out that the city has taken an action of dubious legality in response.
Adopting an “our allies right or wrong” stance is the same as evangelicals embracing Trump because he suits their political agenda, even though he is a terrible role model for our children who represents the opposite of Christian values. It is immensely ironic that a Trumpist now benefits from Trumpism practiced by people who in most other ways are not Trumpist at all.
Hang on, Cathy: the latter from the city attorney specifically and exclusively mentions City Hall. It does not indicate any ban from any other city facility. Where do we find the ban extending to other places? Did the city attorney issue a second letter?
If you knew the value of Swensen at these county meetings, the reliance on other commissioners on his opinion and knowledge when it comes to appropriate county decisions, you all would simply cringe and remove your dribble comments. This report by Dakota News is a rant about political comments without any proper context. If you realized the important aspects of proper procedure and meaningful content in a county meeting that Swensen stands for you would be less concerned about cartoon postings. And I have watched the recent two video recorded county meetings and thank goodness for Swensen. One example was the chair brought up awarding bonuses. Swenson noted in this dire time for local businesses who were shut down and our county knows it has less funds but county workers continued unaffected collecting their checks as well as getting federal incentive funds how would that even make sense. Swensen’s uncle was a Yankton County Judge and Swensen has that same astute legal mind as his uncle. Yankton County continues to reelect him, we recognize him as the champion for the people and for quality service.
An astute legal mind would not post incitements to violence.
Cathy, please describe the agenda and are you Cathy Weiss?
Cory, No one has directed any cartoon at any one. It was just a cartoon. Politics is full of humor, sometimes a bit less quality. Gary Swenson is a well educated man with a quick wit and he is needed by our county.
Gary Swenson is a disrespectful boor who refuses to stop sending spam to citizen’s e-mail boxes, even after multiple polite requests to stop.