GROVELAND, Fla. – The Groveland City Council on Monday suspended District 4 Councilwoman Judith Fike over her alleged social media posts that were racially charged and contained “hateful” content surfaced.
During the council meeting, Vice Mayor Barbara Gaines accused Fike of writing “racist” content on social media, bringing out an example of one such post that apparently displayed an image of former President Ronald Reagan “babysitting” former President Barack Obama.
“Except that it is an ape, a baboon, a monkey, or whatever you want to call it,” she said.
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Gaines also discussed other supposed posts, including ones where Fike allegedly targeted Obama with explicit language and claimed that he had received the Democratic nomination due to his race.
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“‘He was Black, and the Dems knew idiots would vote for the first Black and worst president ever,’” Gaines quoted.
However, Fike argued during the meeting that some of the controversial posts — which had been brought forth by an anonymous source — had been “copied-and-pasted” with “words inserted.”
“And so now that Barbara has shown them, those are indeed manipulated, and so I will just let that rest,” she said. “They’re not my words. Some are — there are some copies. But what Barbara just showed were absolutely not products of mine.”
Despite the protestations, the city council ultimately voted to suspend Fike pending an investigation and due process meeting, where the potential for her removal will be discussed.
Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the city on Fike’s behalf, saying the city charter “does not allow for the suspension or removal of any City Councilmember by the council itself for any reason. Neither does any provision of Florida Law other than citizen’s recall or by the Governor.”
The suit, which can be read below, seeks compensatory damages, among other items of relief.
Fike vs Groveland by Daniel R. Dahm on Scribd