As offensive as many found them, Supervisor Ally Miller鈥檚 Facebook comments expressing pride in her whiteness did not violate county policy and are not grounds for censure or any other discipline from the county board.
That鈥檚 according to several privileged legal opinions provided by Deputy County Attorney Andrew Flagg, which the supervisors voted to make public Tuesday.
Miller wrote from her personal Facebook account several hours after an apparent white supremacist drove a vehicle into a crowd of counter demonstrators in Charlottesville, Virginia in mid-August, killing a woman. Miller wrote, 鈥淚鈥檓 sick and tired of being hit for being white ... It is all about making us feel like we need to apologize. I am WHITE-and proud of it! No apologies necessary.鈥
Board of Supervisors policy requires all county employees to be 鈥減rofessional, respectful, fair, unbiased, honest, civic-minded, service-oriented, and fiscally responsible,鈥 but only 鈥渨hile acting in their official capacities and in the discharge of their duties.鈥
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In Flagg鈥檚 view, Miller鈥檚 weekend post from her private account 鈥渁ppears to be an expression of her personal opinion.鈥 Additionally, the relevant county policy 鈥渁pplies to workplace conduct, and Supervisor Miller鈥檚 comment was not workplace conduct,鈥 Flagg wrote.
As to whether her colleagues on the board can nevertheless censure her for her 鈥減rivate speech,鈥 it was Flagg鈥檚 opinion that they have 鈥渘o clear authority to do so.鈥
鈥淚 think our First Amendment rights and our rights to free speech are alive and well,鈥 Miller said after the meeting. 鈥淚鈥檓 very pleased with the county attorney鈥檚 opinion.鈥
The board could adopt a resolution regarding the comments as long as it does not 鈥減urport to discipline her in any way,鈥 Flagg said.
While acknowledging there was little the board could do in response to the comments, Supervisor Sharon Bronson said Miller should still have apologized.
Though shielded from formal sanction, a number of people harshly criticized Miller during the call to the public Tuesday, including one who pledged $10,000 to an effort to unseat the District 1 supervisor.
鈥淚t takes no courage to be white,鈥 written comments from Darsha Stockton Doran, who said she previously voted for Miller, read. 鈥淟ife hands out skin color.鈥
鈥淵ou can have German pride, you can have Irish pride, you can have Lithuanian pride,鈥 said Najima Rainey, a member of the local Black Lives Matter chapter. 鈥淵ou can have all kinds of pride, because those are cultures that have actual cultural traditions and rituals and identities. But when you say I am white and proud, what you are saying is I embrace a designation of superiority.鈥
But Miller was not without defenders. While not weighing in on the comments themselves, Christopher King said it was 鈥渞eprehensible鈥 that there was even consideration of censure for private comments.
鈥淭he First Amendment protects everybody鈥檚 right to free speech, regardless of whether you like the information,鈥 he said.
