SAVANNAH — At least one member of the Ashland County Democratic Party disagreed with how his peers handled last weekend’s button controversy at the county fair.
Andrew Kinney, of Savannah, resigned from his post as a party committee member on Sept. 19, a day following the incident.
“By walking away, I hope to encourage others to seek a higher, less isolated ground. We must learn to resist the politics of rage and retribution, reject purely oppositional goals, and recognize more often our common humanity,” he wrote.
In a statement sent to Ashland Source, Kinney said he had been considering resigning for a while.
The button incident served as the last straw. He first got involved with the local party around 2007, during President Obama’s campaign. Before that, he was active in the county’s Republican party, he said.
A lecturer for OSU-Mansfield’s department of English, he unsuccessfully ran for an open seat on the Ashland City Schools Board of Education in 2015.
Now, he will focus his civic engagement as the chair of the Ashland County Mental Health and Recovery Board.
“My focus is currently on helping to pass the board’s levy. After that, I’m not sure yet. I’m definitely not running for anything,” he said.
He also serves as a council member for the Village of Savannah. His term expires Dec. 31. He did not file for re-election.
In his resignation announcement, Kinney said he believes in the Democratic party’s values, “economic policy that raises us all up; social policy that brings everyone along.”
“Unfortunately, both major parties have become engaged in mutual destruction,” he wrote. “Neither party seems aware of how co-dependent they have become on the other’s bad behavior.”
Incident still under investigation
The “offensive buttons” incident remains under investigation by the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Kurt Schneider said he also notified the U.S. Secret Service in order for that agency to investigate “any crimes that may be associated with (President Trump’s) safety.”
Ashland County Democratic Party Chair Heather Sample expressed regret over the incident and said the party does not and will never endorse political violence. Overall, however, she characterized the incident as censorship.
“The use of law enforcement to suppress political speech at the local level represents a grave threat to our democracy and the foundational principle that government officials cannot use their power to punish dissent,” Sample said.
The incident prompted the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a national nonprofit aimed at advocating for free speech, to call for the sheriff to drop its investigation.
In a letter directed at the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office, the fair board and Ashland County Prosecutor’s Office, FIRE asserted that “officials silenced speech solely because of its viewpoint.”
The organization also called for the fair board to “refrain from restricting speech based on viewpoint at future events” and vowed to use “all the resources at our disposal to vindicate (the right to be free from government investigation or punishment based on one’s political views) and see this matter to a just conclusion.”
Ashland County Agricultural Society President Marty Wesner said the fair board’s actions are consistent. Around three years ago, an organization dubbed the Conservative Coalition had some inappropriate “propaganda” at the fair.
Wesner said the fair board asked the group to take down the material and it did. They’ve also asked vendors to remove items from shelves that are deemed inappropriate for young children, like toy guns.
The sheriff’s office and the fair board did not respond to a request for comment. The Ashland County Democratic Party also did not respond to a request for comment.
Ashland County Prosecutor Chris Tunnell said his office does not represent the fair board and that his office has not been in communication with them. Also, the sheriff’s office has not forwarded anything to his office for review.
“I support the actions of the fair board and the ACSO regarding the removal of offensive material from the county fair. I am a proponent of civil discourse. I am opposed to those who seek to silence opposing views with violence,” Tunnell said.
