18 Mar These Local Officials in Contra Costa Shared Controversial Posts on Social Media. Does It Really Matter?

Antioch Police Oversight Commission Chair Porshe Taylor, left, Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez and Joe Mitchell, formerly of the APOC, have stirred controversy with some social media posts. (Taylor, Martinez and Mitchell pictures: Screenshots by Samantha Kennedy; graphic by Denis Perez-Bravo / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

In both East and West Contra Costa County, social media posts by public officials have triggered backlash, defense and debate.

Over the past year, posts shared by officials have tested how communities respond when harm is acknowledged, but consequences remain uncertain.

Porshe Taylor, the current chair of the Antioch Police Oversight Commission, and Joe Mitchell, a former commissioner, were two of three public officials in Contra Costa who have reposted conspiracy theories, misinformation or other posts that some considered controversial within the last year or longer. Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez was the third.

All three ultimately avoided formal consequences.

Taylor was reappointed. Mitchell successfully defended himself against claims. Martinez dodged a censure but in his current bid for reelection failed to gain the endorsement of his local progressive group, which may have taken the posts into consideration.

For some, those outcomes feel appropriate. For others, they raise a deeper question: Should public officials face consequences for spreading conspiracy theories on their personal social media accounts?

EAST COUNTY

A few months before his appointment, Mitchell shared a video that claims the media pushed the deaths of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor and Michael Brown as “racial hoaxes” meant to “drive a narrative to make you hate America … ”

The video also falsely claimed Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose and said Martin “was about that life” and “effed around and found out” that George Zimmerman was armed.

Mitchell said he viewed the video as commentary on media bias.

“It almost seems as though there’s a lot of agendas out there,” Mitchell said. “It’s just, open your eyes, people; you can’t take what the media feeds you.”

Taylor said she didn’t agree with the views in that video and they were biased toward several groups of people.

“I think the goal of the vetting for them was to have people in place that represented all different types,” she said in an interview.

Taylor has made her own controversial posts but says they’re not the same as Mitchell’s because they are about her own health decisions.

“I do believe that people should have their choices in regards to their health care decisions, but I also believe that in any kind of professional setting, there should be a level of decorum,” she said.

Since 2020, Taylor has reposted videos and articles that spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines.

“If you or your kids are putting these shots in your body, you need to detox,” states one video that advertises a heavy metal detox claiming to remove the supposed effects of vaccines and autism.

“Injecting foreign things in kids (sic) arms is not building immunity, it’s compromised it,” the caption on the video states.

“None of those things are true,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, professor emeritus of UC Berkeley School of Public Health’s Infectious Disease division, about the video.

Mitchell, who didn’t agree with Taylor’s posts, said he does believe the so-called lab-leak theory, which Swarzberg says lacks scientific backing, but he stressed the importance of vaccines to public health.

Ahead of his appointment last year, Mitchell was accused of sharing racist, anti-immigrant, homophobic and anti-vaccine content on Facebook. He told Antioch City Council members last year those claims were “not true” and implied things were taken out of context.

In 2023, several Antioch police officers were found to have shared racist text messages, spurring indictments and calls for reform. The oversight commission was created as part of those reforms.

Council members did not respond to requests to comment on posts shared by Taylor or Mitchell, but reappointed Taylor to her position last month.

Mayor Ron Bernal and commission Vice Chair Devin Williams said at the Feb. 10 reappointment that they appreciated Taylor’s leadership on a sometimes unstable commission.

“I just wanted to acknowledge the reappointment of my chair, who has been an excellent team leader and team player,” Williams said at the meeting.

Williams also did not respond to a request for comment.

Oversight and Ethics

Cameron McEllhiney is the executive director of the National Association of Civilian Law Enforcement Oversight, a nonprofit organization that authored a Code of Ethics for police overseers that APOC members are expected to follow.

“One of the difficult parts of oversight is that we ask human beings to come to the table knowing that they all have a belief system,” she said. “Whatever it is, we ask them to leave that at the door, because you cannot do the work in an unbiased manner if you don’t.”

Social media complicates that expectation, said McEllhiney.

“Because it is nearly impossible to disassociate yourself in your personal life from the work that you’re doing as a volunteer board member,” she said.

The organization’s Code of Ethics does not define what constitutes a violation, leaving that responsibility to local agencies.

Under Antioch’s ordinance, commissioners can be removed for “violations” of the Code of Ethics. But the ordinance doesn’t define what constitutes a violation.

“When there isn’t a clear outline of what is expected and what happens when those expectations are not met, then the focus goes away from the work of oversight, building legitimacy and dealing with issues,” said McEllhiney.

An early draft of a code of conduct that calls for a prohibiting commissioners from  using social media to “undermine the City or Commission’s work, retaliate, or disparage individuals or the City.”

A separate attempt to include social media background checks for commissioners was scrapped over concerns of “cancel culture.”

Policies on public officials’ social media use, especially on accounts that are at least partly personal, often raise First Amendment concerns.

Antioch rejected adopting a formal social media policy years ago, with some then-council members saying they didn’t need a policy to tell them how to interact with the public.

Swartzberg said that those in public positions have a responsibility to share accurate information.

“There’s greater obligation on people who have a position of authority to be sure they’re quoting what’s known as opposed to what they believe,” said Swartzberg.

WEST COUNTY

Martinez, elected Richmond mayor in 2022, faced much wider-spread backlash for his reposts on LinkedIn that several called antisemitic.

Late last year, the mayor shared a post that claimed the Bondi Beach, Australia, attack was a “false flag” and that Israel’s actions are the “root cause” of antisemitism.

Prompted, in part, by calls from the Jewish Community Relations Council, dozens showed up at City Council meetings, sent messages and called for Martinez’s resignation.

Martinez did not respond to requests for comment. However, at a March 16 mayoral candidate forum, he said should have been “more circumspect” about the situation.

“I should have realized that the people who are spreading hate is not me but the ones who don’t take the time to actually listen to what I said,” he said.

Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area, which supported Martinez, said his posts were hurtful but argued the response was politically motivated because of his pro-Palestinian stance.

“We’re going to take the attitude of education rather than cancellation,” said Ellen Brotsky of JVP Bay Area, adding the group would not support censure or resignation.

Richmond City Council members Sue Wilson and Claudia Jimenez also defended him. They described the posts as a “misstep” or said they“missed the mark.”

“One misstep does not erase all the good you have done for Richmond nor does it warrant a resignation,” wrote one supporter under a statement issued by Martinez.

Council member Cesar Zepeda later questioned whether the same leniency would apply in cases involving homophobia or Islamophobia.

Martinez, who is up for reelection this year, failed to receive an endorsement from the Richmond Progressive Alliance when Jimenez entered the race. Jimenez said the backlash could have played a role in the endorsement.

As debates over social media, free speech and public trust continue, the question remains, when officials post controversial or misleading content, who decides what accountability looks like?