GROVELAND, Fla. – A Groveland city councilwoman who was suspended last week amid a social media controversy was reinstated on Wednesday, according to court records obtained by News 6.
A court order demanded that the councilwoman — Judith Fike — be given her seat back, as neither the city charter nor its ethics policy allowed for the suspension.
“There is a likelihood of irreparable harm in that (Fike) is prohibited from voting at council meetings while suspended,” the order reads.
The incident kicked off during last week’s city council meeting after Vice Mayor Barbara Gaines brought a batch of what appeared to be “hateful” and “racist” social media posts written by Fike.
[BELOW: Here’s what we know about the Groveland social media controversy so far]
For example, one of the posts revealed by Gaines 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.
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.
“‘He was Black, and the Dems knew idiots would vote for the first Black and worst president ever,’” Gaines quoted.
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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 3-1 to suspend Fike pending an investigation. No additional information was provided about who had initially brought the posts to the city’s attention.
Regardless, the suspension drew the attention of Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini, who filed a lawsuit against the city on Fike’s behalf.
“No city gets rid of their own members,” Sabatini said. “They don’t even have the power to do that. Very few cities have a charter that allows for that, and Groveland is literally just making up the law, so it disgusts me that they are so blatantly violating the law.”
You can read Wednesday’s full court order below:
Fike Order by Anthony Talcott on Scribd