Antioch City Clerk Says Mayor Deleted Her Posts, Blocked Her From Social Media

On Wednesday, Antioch City Clerk Ellie Householder came out and accused Mayor Lamar Thorpe of deleting factual information to residents of the City of Antioch.

This comes as Antioch could not move forward with its Tuesday night meeting as Mayor Lamar Thorpe, Tamisha Torres-Walker and Monica Wilson were no shows.  — see recap of what transpired.

The meeting, which had been noticed to the public could not be “cancelled”. Instead, it had to be called to order, then adjourned.  Antioch City Manager Con Johnson also was a no-show to both closed session and the regularly scheduled meeting.

According to Ellie Householder’s social media post:

“Antioch’s Mayor Lamar A. Thorpe deleted my comment last night on his public post noting that last nights city council meet was adjourned, not “cancelled”.

Seems weird to me that a mayor would block the city clerk from posting factual information about City business on his official social media pages.

I have also been blocked on his official Instagram and Twitter accounts.

As Antioch’s City Clerk, I am gravely concerned that the keeper of the city’s record, me, is intentionally prevented from accessing the record.

Here is what Mayor Thorpe posted Tuesday at 5:05 pm.

City Attorney Says Quorum Would Occur, Says Meeting Can’t be Cancelled.

Below is a copy of an email sent to the entire city council informing the council that a meeting cannot just be cancelled. Attorney Thomas Smith also informed the council at 1:05 pm that they believe they should have a quorum for the City Council meeting.

Previously, councilmember Lori Ogorchock (sickness) and Wilson (travel) had planned to participate in the meeting remotely via zoom. When Barbanica said he was feeling ill, and also requested a zoom link, that is when AB 2449 came into play and the city attorney advised them they needed three councilmembers at the dais. Barbanica and Ogorchock then stated they would attend in person.

Later that day, at 5:05 pm, that is when Mayor Thorpe sent out his announcement on Facebook the meeting was cancelled.

Editors Notes – Elected Officials cannot delete or Block Comments

• September 2022 – Residents pursue legal remedies against Blakespear over censorship allegations: Five Encinitas residents filed a lawsuit against Mayor Catherine Blakespear on Wednesday in Vista Superior Court for allegedly blocking their public comments on her mayoral Facebook page in violation of their free speech rights and breaching the terms of a previous settlement agreement.
• September 2021 – ACLU: Lawsuit over mayor’s Facebook blocks settled: A lawsuit filed by two Woonsocket residents who said the city’s mayor violated their First Amendment rights when she deleted their critical posts from her Facebook page and then blocked them has been settled, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday. Under a stipulation filed in court, Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt agreed to no longer block people from her page “based on First Amendment-protected viewpoints expressed,” the civil rights organization said. The city also agreed to pay $7,000 in fees and court costs.
• January 2021 – Irvine settles lawsuit over former mayor Shea’s social media blocking:  Irvine has settled a suit that argued former mayor Christina Shea violated a resident’s First Amendment rights when she blocked him on a personal Facebook account last summer. The city agreed to settle the lawsuit for nearly $40,000, but it did not admit any wrongdoing, according to a statement on Irvine’s website; the city also spent $80,000 in legal fees.
• July 2019 – American Bar Association to Public Officials: Beware Blocking Critics on Social Media. The Second Circuit follows the Fourth in ruling that an official social-media account qualifies as a public forum. The basic lesson from these cases is that once a public official opens a social-media account and uses it to interact in an official capacity with users, the account qualifies as a public forum under the First Amendment, and the public official may not exclude users on the basis of viewpoint.
• January 2019 – ACLU says Court Rules Public Officials Can’t Block Critics on Facebook: the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the interactive portion of a public official’s Facebook page is a “public forum,” so an official cannot block people from it because of the opinions they hold. The case arose after the chair of a local board of supervisors in Virginia, Phyllis Randall, briefly blocked a critic from her official Facebook page and deleted a comment he made about her colleagues’ management of public funds.
• August 2018:  Escondido mayor sued for blocking resident on Facebook: Escondido Mayor Sam Abed serves as the latest example of a public official in San Diego County blocking constituents in response to criticism on Facebook. In response to the blocking, Escondido resident Benjamin Martinez has filed a lawsuit against Abed on First Amendment grounds, as well, paralleling the lawsuit against President Trump. That lawsuit was filed on Aug. 18 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, as first reported by NBC 7 San Diego.
• May 2018 –  National City mayor blocks critic on Facebook, gets sued:   A labor leader blocked on Facebook by National City Mayor Ron Morrison has filed a federal lawsuit, arguing the mayor violated his First Amendment rights by silencing criticisim he expressed online. In the lawsuit, Andrew McKercher, organizing director of the local union of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, claims Morrison violated his freedom of speech and right to criticize government officials. McKercher is a National City resident, according to the lawsuit.