CAÑON CITY — The outrage that has erupted across the country in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk burst into a City Council meeting here this week as angry residents demanded the ouster of a council member because of a Facebook post.
A dozen citizens spoke at Monday’s council meeting, saying they were angered and disgusted when they learned that Councilwoman Emily Tracy had posted a link to an opinion piece in The Nation entitled “Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Deserves No Mourning” to her personal Facebook page.
Kirk, a firebrand commentator who co-founded the conservative youth political group Turning Point USA and rose to prominence preaching the gospel of free speech and open debate, was shot and killed Sept. 10 while answering audience questions at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
“All over this country people have been fired for what she did,” businessman Rusty Lake told the council. “That’s in private organizations, in schools and in public office. I would like to ask Ms. Tracy to do the honorable thing since we cannot remove her and resign.”
Tracy, whose council term ends in December, said she would not resign and apologized to those who were offended. She noted that she did not comment on the article, but simply posted it.
She joins a long list of others in Colorado around the country who are being lambasted and sometimes threatened over comments made about the controversial commentator and his death.
Teachers, government employees in the speech crosshairs
Two teachers in Colorado Springs School District 49 were put on leave last week after social media posts were reported; a Colorado suicide prevention counselor was reported for a post critical of those defending Kirk; a school board candidate in Fort Collins is defending a post questioning the outpouring of grief for Kirk while a school shooting the same day in Evergreen was barely noted; and a Loveland man was arrested Monday on suspicion of setting a Kirk memorial on someone’s fence on fire.
Former House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese on Sept. 11, the day after Charlie Kirk was killed, demanded the governor to fire a state health department suicide prevention care coordinator for this Libs of TikTok post. (Screengrab)Education Week reports that teachers in at least a dozen states have been fired or placed on leave for posts that could imply approval of Kirk’s killing. A Tucson city councilman was criticized for a post he says was taken out of context. Ball State University professors have been called out for their posts and the Indiana attorney general created an “Eyes on Education” portal to allow reporting of those who “celebrate” the death, according to the university’s news network, Cardinal Media.
A District 49 spokesman said Tuesday that the investigation into two teachers is ongoing, and provided a district statement: “We are actively investigating reports that two of our staff members may have reacted to the news of the assassination of Charlie Kirk in ways that indicated approval of that action. We do not condone this kind of behavior, particularly in the presence of students.”
At Colorado State University in Fort Collins, where Kirk had been scheduled to speak Thursday, other planned events have been moved to more secure facilities.
“CSU proactively reached out to student organizations and external groups, asking them to consider moving their events to campus spaces that would allow for increased security,” according to a news release issued Tuesday. “All groups were receptive to the conversation and either worked with the university to select more secure spaces or decided not to move forward with their events at this time.”
A Turning Point USA vigil is planned from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Canvas Stadium, and will be joined by other non-student group vigils that were being planned for the campus
CSU Political Review, a bipartisan student group dedicated to encouraging “respectful and informed political conversations” will host an event with the tagline “For free speech. Against political violence,” at 4 p.m. in the CSU Lory Student Center Ballroom, the release said.
“I hate that because of his death there’s so much happening right now,” said Dustin Trevathan, a Cañon City resident who started a petition drive to have Tracy removed. “The world needs to come together.”
He said it was inappropriate for Tracy to post such a vicious article even if she didn’t comment on it because her Facebook page identifies her as a council member. At least one of her followers said the world was a better place without Kirk in it, so her endorsement was implied, he argued.
He had collected 509 signatures on the change.org petition by Tuesday evening.
“Freedom of speech is the First Amendment. Guns second.”
Trevathan said he has never gotten involved in political squabbles and had never attended or spoken at a council meeting, but felt strongly that it was necessary to call her out because of the vitriol in the article to which she linked.
A screenshot of Tracy’s Facebook post, since deleted, was posted Sunday on NextDoor by Kay Hunsaker, who asked people to show up at Monday’s council meeting. From there it went to various social media accounts. Hunsaker, a member of the Fremont County Republican executive committee, initially indicated in a message that she was available to talk, but did not respond to two follow-up messages.
Corey Hoffman, an attorney for Cañon City, told the council Monday that there was no mechanism for them to remove a council member. That must be done by citizens through a recall, but because Tracy’s term ends in December there is not enough time.
Mayor Preston Troutman then said he would entertain a motion to censure Tracy, and after some back and forth the council agreed on a 6-2 vote to direct Hoffman to draft a censure resolution for the October meeting. Tracy and Councilwoman Andrea Stein opposed the motion.
Stein said in an interview Tuesday that she opposed drafting a censure resolution because it was a straightforward freedom of speech issue protected by the First Amendment.
“It’s very simple,” she said. “I’m 80 years old. When I was a girl in high school in Ohio I learned civics. Freedom of speech is the First Amendment, guns second.
“She didn’t say anything about him. She merely shared an article.”
Tracy attended the meeting via Zoom from Lakewood, where her husband has been hospitalized since Aug. 20. Several people commenting on the live Facebook stream criticized her for absence.
Cañon City councilwoman Emily Tracy with documents related to her work with the Community Advisory Group for the Lincoln Park/Cotter Superfund site. (Sue McMillin, Special to The Colorado Sun)Others raised the issue of her residency because she has a home in Breckenridge, where her husband has a business. She said she has owned a home in Cañon City since 1998 and while she changed her residency to Breckenridge for a few years in the early 2000s, she switched back to Cañon City in 2020 to work on an issue campaign to try to get lower electric rates for citizens.
She decided not to run for another council term after her husband collapsed in August. She said in a phone interview on Tuesday that she has worked many hours on council and committees and with organizations to help the city move forward.
“I don’t regret one minute of it,” she said. “I think I have the heart for public service. I spent eight years on council and then came back in 2021, and I led the issue campaign in fall 2020 to encourage council to not renew the franchise with Black Hills so we could see if we could find more affordable power.
“I’ve worked on the (Lincoln Park) Superfund issue since the late ‘70s, and I’ve chaired the Community Advisory Group for several years now, working to ensure the cleanup of radioactive and toxic materials.”
What concerned her the most was that none of the other council members spoke to defend her, and suggested that people are afraid to speak out at risk of becoming the next “target of the mob.”
“It’s hard to know what to say,” she said. “As disappointing as it was to see that kind of attack on a city council member, it was more disappointing that no one spoke up in my defense. No one in the audience and no one on council.”
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