Back on December 3, 2017, Bluestem Prairie shared the post Vadnais Heights city council member Johnson doesn't much like Ilhan Omar or Martin Luther.
After reading Willmar city council member Christianson under scrutiny for liking racist & mean Facebook posts, a reader contacted Bluestem with screenshots of Facebook posts by Vadnais Heights' city council member Craig Johnson's personal Facebook page.
The content Johnson shares is a froth of Hillary Clinton bashing, climate change denying, liberal mocking memes, along with pro-Catholic content. Along the way, Johnson expresses his loathing of a rage of public figures, living and dead, from freshman Minnesota state representative Ilhan Omar, DFL-Minneapolis, to Reformation leader Martin Luther.
Bluestem knows of no other elected official in Minnesota has been so inclusive in his scorn as to bash both Muslims and Lutherans. The screengrab at the top of the post announces Johnson's desire to see Representative Omar sent to prison. . . .
We no longer have that email--sadly-- but we did get a forward of the one sent yesterday to many members of the media that's mentioned in Shannon Prather's story in the Strib, Vadnais Heights Council Member Craig Johnson resigns after exposure of bigoted social media posts.
Prather reports:
A Vadnais Heights City Council member abruptly resigned Tuesday after an anonymous person publicly confronted him about nearly 40 inflammatory social media posts that disparaged Muslims, transgender and gay people.
Craig Johnson resigned after the person e-mailed more than 40 journalists, city leaders and advocacy groups screenshots of his Facebook posts dating back to January 2019.
Johnson was copied on the message. Within hours, he submitted his resignation to Mayor Heidi Gunderson and the other council members.
“Today I received a letter about some of the posts and comments I have made on my private Facebook page that would not look favorably on the city of Vadnais Heights or the members of its City Council,” he wrote in his letter to the council. “It is with sadness and regret that I’m writing to you today to tender my resignation.”
The council will formally accept the resignation at its June 2 meeting, according to City Administrator Kevin Watson.
Johnson did not address the content of the posts in his letter to the council. He did not return requests for comment, and his Facebook page was set to private Tuesday.
One June 2019 post attributed to Johnson says: “Muslims do not assimilate[.] they conquer and control.” Another post, from last November, reads, “When will we realize Western culture and Christian values are superior to Islam’s.”
Several posts target U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., former President Barack Obama and former presidential candidate and openly gay politician Pete Buttigieg. Some refer to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Gunderson immediately condemned the social media posts.
“I was shocked and disappointed to read Council Member Johnson’s inflammatory comments and posts on his social media page. The sentiments are his own and definitely not representative of my values or the city’s,” Gunderson said in an e-mailed statement.
“My goal is an inclusive community that welcomes residents of all races, genders, religions, beliefs and sexual orientations. Council Member Johnson’s rhetoric is not acceptable for any representative of this city.” . . .
Read the whole thing. Glad to see this elected official's egregious social media finally getting the attention it deserves. The material in the email and the Prather article all dates from 2019 forward, so this is new material.
One difference in Vadnais Heights city governance? Back in December 2017, the once and now again Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, was mayor of the suburb. But as Mara Gottfried reported at the Pioneer Press in April 2018, Bob Fletcher won’t seek re-election as Vadnais Heights mayor, is considering running again for Ramsey County sheriff.
City Pages' Jessica Lussenhop reported in 2011, Former Sheriff Bob Fletcher's Somalia seminar called "anti-Muslim," and Minnesota Public Radio's Laure Yuen reported about the seminar, Muslim groups to Bob Fletcher: There’s no “Islam” in terrorism. But it's possible Fletcher had undergone a transformation since he established the Center for Somalia History Studies while a St. Paul Police watch commander.
Fletcher's official webpage, Bob Fletcher, Ramsey County Sheriff, closes with this sentence, "Bob has also spent time working with the Somali community to promote cross-cultural understanding and ensure successful transition to living in a new count [sic]"
Get to Know Bob Fletcher, a site that appears to date from Fletcher's waning year as mayor and 2018 campaign for sheriff, notes that "He currently works as a counter-Terrorism instructor striving to combat radicalization of Minnesota Youth."
Chastising Council Member Johnson over those anti-Muslim and anti-Lutheran Facebook posts might not have been a priority.
Screengrab: Craig Johnson shared anti-immigrant pandemic fears back in 2017, via Bluestem's Vadnais Heights city council member Johnson doesn't much like Ilhan Omar or Martin Luther.
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