More vitriol aimed at Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, this time in person

Another Sonoma County public meeting descended into chaos this past week. The difference this time: The provocateurs were in the room.

Following a three-week period in which multiple local meetings were hit by Zoom bombs — with online commenters taking advantage of expanded access rules to hurl antisemitic, racist or anti-gay messages before moderators could cut them off — Tuesday’s meeting of the county Board of Supervisors reached an even higher level of tension.

While clearing the chambers for the second time that afternoon, board Chair Chris Coursey adjourned the meeting before the supervisors had completed their business.

“That might be the first time we’ve ever had to shut down a meeting,” said Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, who was verbally insulted several times by one of the angry commenters. “I’ve never seen so many deputies there before.”

If the method of delivery was different this time, the offending messages were much the same — that white Christians are being persecuted or somehow harmed, by a shadow cadre of Jews or by public officials working to foster more equity and diversity at the local level.

At the heart of Tuesday’s chaos was John Loe, also known as John Lobro, who previously made headlines when his Sebastopol neighbors complained about his frequent discharge of semi-automatic weapons at the personal gun range he has constructed on his property. Loe also has been trying to open cannabis dispensaries in Glen Ellen and Schellville.

He has delivered angry messages at other recent public meetings. And on Sept. 22, he sent a demeaning, misogynist email to Supervisor Susan Gorin that took exception to a reference she had made to the gun range issue.

“Be careful what you say about me to your friends in the press,” Loe wrote in the email, which The Press Democrat reviewed. “i am taking notes and will hold you accountable. I promise you i will expose, challenge, and defeat you.”

He added, “i wish the worst for you and your loved ones including poor health and sickness.”

On Monday, Loe visited the county’s Human Resources Department to express his displeasure.

Tuesday’s board meeting was another escalation.

Dressed in suit and tie, messenger bag draped over one shoulder, Loe interrupted the proceedings several times with outbursts from the gallery, generally in response to the board’s discussion of equity programs, or to any announcements made in Spanish.

At one point, as Hopkins talked about the county’s Essential Workers Immediate Needs and Low Wage Disaster Pay programs — both of them aimed at underserved communities — Loe began vigorously shaking his head and making a thumbs-down gesture. Distracted, Hopkins stopped mid-sentence to admonish him. Loe shot back from his seat, “You’re making a racist statement on white people.”

Coursey attempted to stop Loe, eventually telling him, “Just be quiet.”

Things further heated up during the public comment session, when members of the public are invited to address the board for up to three minutes per individual. After sparring with the supervisors again, Loe delivered a tirade as he walked out of the chambers, threatening the county with legal action and emphasizing white victimization.

“Diversity, what does that mean? White people can’t speak up for themselves?” he yelled, before pointing around the room. “You’re racist. She’s racist. That administrator there is racist. The lawyer, (County Counsel Robert) Pittman, is racist. You guys won’t let a white man speak.”

Given an opportunity to explain his actions, Loe sent The Press Democrat a string of emails. They mostly repeated his messaging from the supervisors’ meeting and defended his right to speak it aloud at public forums.

“I do not condone using vulgarity, obscenity, and threats in public speech,” Loe wrote. “But the statutory and case law is clear when it come to allowing criticism of any group or individual by name. The county is attempting to conflate criticism as hate so that they can further conflate hate with a criminal act.”

Loe wasn’t the only person to roil Tuesday’s meeting. Also in attendance was Ryan Messano, a Fairfield resident who has spent a good deal of time verbally attacking Jews at public forums. In April 2022, Messano was physically carried from the Vallejo City Council chambers by four police officers when he refused to yield the podium after his time ran out.

Tuesday, when he started to unspool his theories about Jewish control of world finance and politics in front of the board, Coursey asked him to stay on topic. Messano instead stuck to antisemitic tropes. Coursey told the Fairfield resident he would have a sheriff’s deputy escort him from the room if he continued.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Messano declared. “If you do it by force, you’ll face a lawsuit. I’m not going anywhere.”

He did, though. The board called for a recess, and deputies cleared the room, prompting another outburst from Loe.

“Where are our rights in this county?!” he yelled before exiting.

During the recess, deputies informed Messano he could not return to the chambers.

As members of the public began to file back into the room following the break, and before most of the supervisors had even taken their seats, Loe started up again. He berated a Press Democrat reporter, County Administrator Christina Rivera and Hopkins, whom he apparently spied through an open door behind the dais.

That was enough for Coursey, who adjourned the meeting with several items left on the agenda. Loe continued to shout about racism throughout his final departure from the chambers that day.

Typically, two sheriff’s deputies are stationed at Board of Supervisors’ meetings. There were a half-dozen at the scene by the time Tuesday’s meeting was adjourned.

The conclusion of the meeting did not end the tension, according to Coursey.

“What had been going on inside, (Loe and Messano) continued it outside,” he said.

When meetings of the county supervisors, Santa Rosa City Schools, Santa Rosa City Council and, most recently, Petaluma City Council — not to mention other public meetings all over the Bay Area — were Zoom bombed, the challenge to officials was how to combat a form of speech delivered anonymously, likely from the comfort of a commenter’s home.

Most have limited or ended online comment availability within recent weeks.

Tuesday’s incidents presented a different problem. The in-person format required more effort from commenters. But it didn’t shut down the racist, antisemitic discourse entirely. And having the angry discourse play out in person, with everyone in the same room, was far more unsettling.

“This is not about me or the board,” Coursey said in an interview. “It’s about having civil discourse in the public square. It’s about protecting everyone’s ability to do this.”

The county board has eliminated Zoom comments for the remainder of 2023. Preventing in-person diatribes is more complicated.

Pittman, the county counsel, has said commenters are obligated to stick to county business at board meetings. But the Brown Act, which governs public access to government meetings, is broadly constructed and not well tested in court.

“We’ll continue to have public forums,” Coursey said when asked about the plan moving forward. “As far as how we respond to this, stay tuned.”

You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Skinny_Post.