Photo by James Short.
The two-hour session at a packed meeting room became contentious and fiery at times.
After a contentious, loud and fiery two-hour public comment period Tuesday night, in which a packed room of Towamencin Township residents demanded the resignation of notably absent Supervisor Laura Smith, Chairman Chuck Wilson, and Supervisor Kristin Warner, all four supervisors voted unanimously to approve the resignation of Smith and move forward to filling her role within the next 30 days.
Smith, who had served as vice chair, submitted her resignation Sunday following a viral blowback that began with the now-former supervisor controversial actions in a now-deleted Tik Tok video, in which she went internationally viral via social media for mimicking an alleged Nazi salute in the manner of Elon Musk at the inauguration.
Smith eventually admitted she posted the video to "stir the pot" because "she could."
At the start of the session, Wilson lambasted some residents for sending the video to the media and creating a firestorm over it. The room was filled with about 90 citizens, at least four of which were known local Republicans.
"It is unfortunate that a few people in our community had to spread this ... that a few people took it upon themselves to make this an issue online," Wilson said, with numerous residents yelling back that it was an issue.
"On behalf of the board, let me state unequivocally that the board finds Mrs. Smith's video and comments to be totally unacceptable," Wilson said. "We collectively and individually condemn antisemitism, hatred and division. There's no place for that at all."
More than 40 people, including North Penn School Board Director Christian Fusco and Montgomery County Republican Committee Vice Chair Nancy Becker, spoke during public comment. Most of the commenters demanded not only the resignations of the two sitting Republican supervisors, but also asked the condemnation of Smith's actions and publicly stand up against anti-Semitism.
"The acts of Laura Smith," said Andrew Phipps, "are, by far, the most reprehensible, disgusting acts I have ever witnessed."
"I have heard or read nothing from Wilson or Warner condemning Smith's actions, and I heard that Wilson, the board chair, ignored the entire situation for days, even though he was being contacted by other board members, township staff and citizens," said Lori Morris.
Becker said Smith is currently "terrified" to leave her house.
"Laura has been terrorized and is fearful to leave her house, as is her mother," said Becker, who was met by a room full of sarcastic "Awws." "That is unacceptable. Whoever publicized this does not care about the township."
Former Supervisor Daniel Bell, who was appointed to the township during the pandemic and was not re-elected in the subsequent Election, said the township has lost its way from the things they held true in 2020.
"Now, the region now knows our town as a place that accepted for a moment a horrible gesture," he said. "Our community cannot and will not stand for anti-Semitism or bigotry or hatred of any kind, and we must address it every time we see it."
North Penn School Board Director Christian Fusco, a Towamencin resident, brought along a photo and memorabilia of his World War II pilot grandfather, Donald Spangler, who flew 35 successful missions as a bomber pilot into enemy territory and lived to tell the tale.
"He was a Republican, and he came from a time during the war, after the war, where there was a moral clarity about certain things," Fusco said, adding certain lines were drawn in the sand that were not crossed. "Accepting jokes or making light of the Holocaust or making light of Nazis, is a line in the sand and no gray area."
Fusco said Wilson's comment about the shame of the issue going beyond Towamencin showed he was missing something important.
"We really started to nomalize a lot of things in this country that no so long ago would have been unfathomable," Fusco said. "We don't see those lines being blurred. Laura put it out in the public. When it got elevated, what you saw was a response, from not just the community, but around the globe that recognized we are getting dangerously close to crossing another line in the sand. Push back on normalizing this type of hate in this country is the only way to be safe from what's coming."
Resident Shannon Jowder Main accused one elected official, alluded to be Fusco, with using social media to encourage people from outside Towamencin to continue to instill violence.
"Specifically, to one on Feb. 12, just to escalate tensions in our community," she said.
Resident James Collins warned people of "the power of the microphone." Online consequences have actions, he said.
"Be careful what you put online, because once it hits the Net, it is out of your control," Collins said.
Another resident, Carsten Pedersen, said he had been watching the meeting at home on Zoom when Wilson made his comment about the media. Pederson drove to the municipal complex in order to give his statement in person.
The news of Smith's actions, he said, gave Towamencin a black eye; even his relatives in Copenhagen, Denmark wanted to know what was going on in his little town.
"You said, it is a shame that some members of the community decided to go to the media. That will come back to haunt you," Pedersen said, giving Wilson numerous attempts to recant his comments.
At the end of the meeting, prior to the vote, Wilson and Warner were targeted by some residents for not condemning Smith's actions. Wilson, who will be seeking another re-election to a fifth 6-year term as supervisor in November, made an apology on her behalf, but Warner refused.
"Laura was wrong and there can be no excuses for that," Wilson said. "I really want to apologize for earlier and I am not suggesting that things not be reported to the media. I was commenting on this, even after our statement went out that Laura had resigned, it was still piling on and piling which was giving our community a black eye."
Warner vehemently told the audience it was not her job to condemn Smith, or anyone for that matter, for their actions.
"It's not my job to condemn Laura Smith. It's not my job to condemn you," she said, pointing at an audience matter.
"It's not going to matter what she says," yelled out resident Lynn Sweet-Reimel from the crowd.
"It does matter," said resident Jennifer Childress. "Words matter!"
"Oh really? Waaah, waaah, little crybaby," Sweet-Reimel said. "That's what you do -- you cry about everything."
Warner said she was called a Nazi via email and online.
"I was called a Nazi sympathizer," Warner said, who admitted being out of the country when she heard of Smith's video and resignation letter on Jan. 26. "You think it's funny; it's just as abhorrent as being antisemitic."
Wilson vowed that the board — now comprised of two Republicans and two Democrats — would work together to appoint a replacement to Smith's position within 30 days and avoid the need of an appointment by the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.
Osei said he gladly accepted Smith's resignation, but he did not accept her statement.
"Laura defended making that video because she wanted to poke fun at people," Osei said. "If you're doing a gesture to poke fun at people that would be offended by a Nazi salute, the gesture you're doing is indistinguishable from a Nazi salute in intent."
