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MORGANTOWN - A social media post depicting Monongalia County Commission President Tom Bloom in a military uniform before a background of Flock-style cameras drew the ire of Commissioner Jeff Arnett, who addressed it Wednesday at the end of the latest commission meeting dominated by public comment opposed to the county's contract with Flock Safety.
Arnett's comments were predicated on his belief that Bloom, who is Jewish, was being depicted in a Nazi uniform in the AI-generated image reposted by Kirsten Nelson.
Arnett noted that Nelson is one of the five individuals who has applied to fill the 7th Ward Morgantown City Council seat being vacated by Brian Butcher. He also indicated Nelson is the campaign manager for U.S. Senate candidate Rachel Fetty-Anderson in her bid to unseat Shelley Moore Capito.
Arnett, who began his remarks by explaining he hadn't alerted Bloom of his intention to address the matter, called the post "both abhorrent and offensive on many levels."
"Even if Tom hadn't spent the last three decades of his life improving the lives of residents in Monongalia County. Even if he hadn't spent 30-plus years helping students as a guidance counselor in our public school system. Even if he hadn't dedicated so much of his time in the last 25 years serving this community as both a city council member and a county commissioner. Even if he hadn't co-founded the Pantry Plus More program and continues to this day to volunteer 30 to 40 hours a week feeding hungry residents of Monongalia County. Even he wasn't who I know to be a kind and caring human being who would go out of his way to help anyone if he was asked. And even if he wasn't a proud follower of the Jewish faith. Even then he wouldn't have deserved being compared to antisemitic and racist murderers," Arnett said.
At that point, one of the 10 citizens who offered public comment in opposition to the automated license plate readers deployed by the county stood and asked what the commentary had to do with the commission's decision to partner with Flock.
The speaker, who earlier identified himself as Nicholas Turner, said the commission was making "absurd claims to defend your f*****g abhorrent actions," while exiting the chamber flanked by court security officers.
"All of you need to f*****g resign. Especially you, Tom," Turner said.
Arnett concluded his remarks by calling on Nelson to apologize for the since-deleted post, and Fetty Anderson to denounce its use to attack Bloom.
In response to comments offered after that meeting indicating the uniform in the photo was not a Nazi uniform, Arnett said he still believed the post crossed the line.
The Dominion Post reached out to Fetty Anderson who said that Nelson is not her campaign manager, but a "dear friend I've known for a very, very long time and a dedicated public servant." A recent social media post from the campaign lists Nelson as a county captain.
Fetty Anderson also said Nelson didn't create the image, but reposted it, and that the uniform depicted was not a Nazi uniform, but Soviet, and never intended as an attack on Bloom's faith.
"I know that she's apologized or intends to apologize for the misunderstanding. And I'm hopeful that Commissioner Arnett will also apologize for saying false things about someone who has served the community at immense personal costs and continues to do so," Fetty Anderson said.
Ultimately, Fetty Anderson said citizens have a right to share posts underscoring their concerns - in this case the commission's decision to use opioid settlement dollars to fund the placement of Flock cameras.
"I think Ms. Nelson has a perfect right as a private citizen to repost her concerns about our locally elected leaders choosing to use money that is supposed to be set aside for prevention and recovery efforts to create a surveillance state. And I absolutely sympathize with the problem of being a public official who is hard sold some kind of miracle camera by a large corporation," she said, later adding, "These are people who know each other, who are trying to stick up for each other in the middle of a big battle, which is being created by a corporation that comes into communities all over the world and convinces them that the biggest enemy that they're all trying to deal with is each other while getting them to spend taxpayer dollars on spying on each other. This is a Flock-created problem. I think that's what's reprehensible here. The only people profiting off of this kind of community discord - this kind of community confusion - is Flock."