Sheriff in Ohio calls on residents to write down addresses of Kamala ...
An Ohio sheriff used his public Facebook accounts to attack Vice President Kamala Harris, urging residents to write down the addresses of her supporters.
Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski made the request on two separate Facebook accounts Sept. 13.
Using insulting language toward the Democratic presidential candidate, Zuchowski’s comments were in response to a Fox News broadcast. The sheriff shared photos of the broadcast, with chyrons blaming Harris’ “open borders (for) … destroying small towns” and fueling a “migrant crime wave.”
“When people ask me … What’s gonna happen if the Flip–Flopping, Laughing Hyena Wins?? I say … write down all the addresses of the people who had her signs in their yards!” Zuchowski said in the Facebook posts. “Sooo … when the Illegal human “Locust” (which she supports!) Need places to live … We’ll already have the addresses of … their New families … who supported their arrival!”
On the identical posts, the sheriff limited who is allowed to comment.
Supporters for the Republican sheriff, who is up for re-election in November, rallied behind his message.
“Absolutely!! Making a list and checking it twice,” one person commented.
“Perfectly said, I know a few that would love to have them,” another comment said.
The sheriff did not immediately respond to a McClatchy News request for comment on Sept. 16.
Zuchowski has been a public servant for nearly 30 years and was elected in 2020 as the county’s first Republican sheriff in a decade.
On Sept. 12, the Portage County Democratic Party announced the “Harris/Walz 2024” yard signs were delivered to its headquarters.
Denise Smith, the county’s Democratic Party chair, told The Portager in a Sept. 16 article that 750 yard signs had been distributed.
As originally reported by The Portager, Portage County Commissioner Tony Badalamenti resigned from the county’s Republican Central Committee following Zuchowski’s post.
He said in a video he cannot support the “lying, mistrust and bullying and misleading (of) people” in the Republican Party in Portage County.
“This is not the leadership I want to be part of, this is not the leadership that I would follow, and I would encourage others to not follow the same,” Badalamenti said. “To me, the damage to which this group of folks have done to the Republican Party is heartbreaking.”
Jon Barber, Zuchowski’s Democratic opponent in the upcoming election, said the sheriff’s comments should be considered voter intimidation.
“As the chief law enforcement officer for the County, the sheriff is sworn to protect and serve all people, not just the ones who vote for him,” Barber said. “How is the public supposed to have faith in public safety when they fear political retribution? He’s making that faith impossible.”
Smith called on county residents to respond to Zuchowski’s comments by showing up at the polls.
“Any elected official is free to put whatever they want on their personal Facebook page,” she told The Portager. “Anything that someone believes is intimidation, the way to counter that is to vote against that in November, and the 109,000 registered voters should fire any elected official that tries to intimidate them.”
Portage County is about a 40-mile drive southeast from Cleveland.
