SLO County official resigns position after offensive Facebook posts

A San Luis Obispo County planning commissioner resigned his position on Friday after being criticized for public Facebook posts that compared Democrats to Nazis and said the Islamic religion should be banned.

District 4 Supervisor Lynn Compton accepted Planning Commissioner Jim Harrison’s resignation, according to an email from her legislative assistant Caleb Mott.

Compton, who appointed Harrison in January 2015, will now begin the process of selecting a new planning commissioner, the email said.

Harrison came under fire after sharing right-wing memes, including one showing a fake portrait of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a Nazi uniform with a “Minister of Propaganda” label and another showing an image of a donkey adorned with a swastika.

He also posted Islamophobic content, including a call for America to shut down all mosques and ban Islam. Another post claimed, “Islam (is) trying to infiltrate our government and destroy it from the inside and the people in this country are too dumb to see it.”

In response to the criticism this week, Harrison wrote on Facebook: “There was a post on my Facebook that offended some people. I apologize if it was offensive to you. The post was deleted when this came to my attention.”

Calls for Harrison to resign

Harrison was set to be named Nipomo’s Citizen of the Year, but declined the award Thursday before the South County Chamber of Commerce could officially strip him of the honor.

After The Tribune published a story about the posts, numerous local organizations — R.A.C.E. Matters, GALA, Diversity Coalition of SLO County, Bend the Arc, JCC Federation and People of Faith for Justice — called on the Chamber to rescind Harrison’s award and on Compton to remove him from his county government position.

The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) also issued a statement saying Harrison should resign or be stripped of his position.

“Mr. Harrison is sorry that his hatred was discovered,” said Hussam Ayloush, CAIR-LA executive director, in a statement. “It is obvious that he has a long history of bigotry and xenophobia. We call on him to resign immediately. If he is unwilling, Supervisor Compton should remove him.”

Supervisors react to resignation

Prior to the resignation announcement, The Tribune asked Compton if she had spoken with Harrison, whether he would keep his planning commissioner position and whether she agreed with the content of his posts.

Compton did not respond to those questions or other repeated requests for comment regarding the situation and Harrison’s posts.

District 5 Supervisor Debbie Arnold said she has not kept up with coverage of Harrison’s posts and wasn’t able to comment on them.

“It’s between him and Supervisor Compton,” Arnold said of Harrison’s resignation.

District 1 Supervisor John Peschong did not respond to a call seeking comment.

District 3 Supervisor Bruce Gibson said Harrison’s resignation was an appropriate step, although a “truly sincere and contrite apology” could have opened up a path forward.

Gibson called Harrison’s posts “horrible” and “deplorable.” He was particularly concerned by Harrison’s casual reposting of offensive social media content at a time when officials should be thinking critically about thoughtful ways to engage the public.

Gibson said the conversation around the posts and the Chamber’s move toward potentially stripping Harrison of his award showed “this county does have standards.”

“Moving forward, we really need to have a conversation about how we conduct discussion about things we disagree on,” Gibson said.

Gibson and District 3 Supervisor Adam Hill both said they would like to hear more from Compton and Harrison, who they believe should be part of the conversation moving forward.

“I would’ve taken action immediately,” Hill said. “I would’ve commented, too. I think it’s our responsibility.”

Hill said he thinks the county should continue to find ways to be more welcoming and inclusive.

“I think the community wants people to be reasonable and fair and decent,” he said. “It’s not too much to expect.”

This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 1:26 PM.