In the wake of the assassination of conservative pundit Charlie Kirk, a city of Springfield department head posted something on Facebook critical of the influencer and now he no longer has a job.
“I had never heard of this guy before he got shot,” James ‘Jayme’ Sullivan told Illinois Times. “I was on vacation when I saw the news and some of the vile things he said. I posted something on my private Facebook account and about two hours later I decided to take it down. But someone took a screenshot of it while it was up.”
Sullivan shared a meme quoting Kirk’s views on various topics including the Civil Rights Act, gay people and the Second Amendment and then added his own commentary. Sullivan’s portion of the post read: “This is the dick who spreads love? LMAO (laughing my ass off) fucking loser look at him now. I am seeing all of the maggots saying he spread love in his speeches!! No wonder Hillary called those idiots deplorable. Pathetic!”
A screenshot of his post was soon shared on social media along with a demand that the director of the Information Systems Division be fired.
Mayor Misty Buscher posted a statement on the city’s Facebook page late on Sept. 12 that alluded to Sullivan’s post, although she did not name him.
“As Mayor of Springfield, I condemn recent social media posts by a city director that appear to celebrate the death of an individual. This behavior is unacceptable. No one should ever celebrate a parent losing a child, a spouse losing their partner or a child losing a parent. We must never lose our sense of humanity. Let me be clear: promoting any violence, and any glorification of it has no place in our city.”
Kirk opposed same-sex marriages, affirmative action and said homosexual acts are sinful. Sullivan, who is gay, said he found these positions offensive.
“I was offended by it. Many of my closest friends are African American. I don’t appreciate the things he said about African Americans. I didn’t appreciate what he said about women. And so, I shared a post on my private page,” Sullivan said.
But he later removed the post.
“A couple hours later I thought, ‘Well, I should probably remove that because the dude had died and these crazy people on TV acted like it was someone of importance who died,’” Sullivan said.
He said he received an ominous notice that he was to meet with the mayor on Sept. 16 following his return to the office.
“I figured, why walk into a firing squad and an uncomfortable situation?” he said. “So, I decided to go ahead and just retire. I didn’t want to put (the mayor) in a bad situation and maybe have her do something that she didn’t want to do. I just thought it’d be easier. Plus, I was worried about myself. I didn’t really want to be terminated by her because I think so much of her. We’ve been close in a working relationship long before she became mayor. So, I just thought it was best for her and myself.”
Sullivan worked on Buscher’s campaign and was promoted to a department head position shortly after she took office. He was initially hired during Tim Davlin’s administration and had been with the city for more than two decades. Sullivan said he is now in a situation where he can comfortably retire from the city.
“I decided on the drive home from vacation to retire. Would I (otherwise) have left this soon? Probably not. I always said I would do at least one term with (Buscher.) I’m 57 and I don’t want to work until I’m half dead, then die after I retire. But ordinarily I wouldn’t have left this way.”
Buscher has named Jay Underfanger, who has worked for the city for nearly 30 years, as the acting director to replace Sullivan.
So the head of a city department calls all conservative employees maggots and deplorables and then acts like he is surprised hes going to get fired. The only reason he had that job was nepotism, plan and simple.
!
Even he belatedly recognized that his vile comments would cost him his job.
I guess he can spend his retirement hanging out at Clique.
Really believe we’ll see the end of the church age in our lifetime. God will harvest the Earth soon and Jesus will come for His bride. The time to accept His perfect blood as salvation for your sins is now! It is free until the rapture, and after it will cost everything.
The old “some of my best friends” are African American defense. This clown was head of a city department? Whoever hired him should “retire” too.
Even at age 57 you need to learn how things work in this new age. Employers now review your social media, as it gives them a glimpse into who you REALLY are. In this case, I’m sure the mayor figured out what an idiot she had in this position. Making statements like that, about someone you admittedly KNEW NOTHING ABOUT shows not only a lack of empathy, but a serious defect in critical decision-making. The city of Springfield is better off without him.
Wow, what hatred by posters? Is that who Springfield is? Bottom line: Charlie Kirk advocated discrimination and violence against gays, blacks, equal civil rights for all, and absolutely no limits on the ownership or use of guns. He proposed that there would be acceptable “casualties.” He claimed to be a devout evangelical Christian and perhaps he was (not for me to say), be he certainly didn’t act like it. He repudiated just about everything Jesus taught us to do. His concept of a debate was baiting someone and turning the question back on them because his view was indefensible for a Christian. He’s the poster boy for a closed, uneducated mind. He decided what he thought when he was a teenager, and never grew up emotionally or intellectually (or theologically). It’s a terrible thing for such a talented person to waste his very gifted talents on bigotry and hate. I wonder if he knew his children would grow up without a father that he would rethink his views of the world. Frankly, I don’t think so, because he didn’t have the maturity to do so. I deplore the violence that resulted in his death and the terrible impact it will forever have on his family. But this world is probably a better place without Charlie Kirk.
the world is not a better place without him, it is a much worse place. Charlie didn’t hate anyone. Nor did he ever wish violence on anyone. He simply spoke Biblical truth to those who didn’t know it or couldn’t understand it. RIP Charlie Kirk.