UPDATE: Video courtesy of WBAL-TV
The Hogan administration official who was fired Saturday after publishing a series of Facebook posts critical of the Kenosha, Wis. unrest will speak Monday in Baltimore City at 5:15 p.m.
Arthur “Mac” Love IV was relieved of his duties Saturday as the deputy director of the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives, a job Love held since 2015.
“These divisive images and statements are inconsistent with the mission and core values of the Office of Community Initiatives,” Steve McAdams, executive director of the governor’s Community Initiative, said in a statement released Saturday after he terminated Love.
Gov. Larry Hogan’s (R) spokeswoman, Shareese Churchill, released a statement Saturday calling Love’s social media posts “obviously totally inappropriate.”
“We fully support the immediate actions taken by Director McAdams to address this matter,” Churchill’s statement said.
Kevin Craft, the administrative director of the Governor’s Commission on African Affairs, will take of Love’s responsibilities at the state agency.
Website Defends Love, Asks for Donations
A GoDaddy website registered Sunday defending Love says the embattled former Hogan official will hold a press conference Monday at 5:15 p.m. in Baltimore City, “outside of Lockerman Bundy Elementary School located at 301 N Pulaski Street.”
Love’s website says he “neither called for violence and/or endorsed the concept of shooting others.”
“He expressed what he felt was a reasonable conversation many American’s (sic) are having about social unrest and senseless violence that is plaguing our communities,” the page added.
The website claims Love is “unaware of any problems with his private social media posts until this point” and is “frustrated tha tthe (sic) Maryland Governor’s Office issued statements to the press prior (sic) discussing this personnel matter privately with him.”
“After spending nearly a decade as a trusted political operative for the Hogan administration, he was shocked (sic) the lack of decency that he experienced,” the site reads.
Gov. Hogan took office in January 2015. Love briefly worked for Larry Hogan’s 2014 general election campaign.
Love’s website claims he “experienced harassment and threats” since his firing and feels unsafe at home.
The 44-year-old Republican and vocal Donald Trump supporter, according to the website, can “no longer walk his dog in his neighborhood without being harassed by media” or someone leveling a vulgar comment.”
“He feels that his tongue-in-cheek suggestions of allowing a national story to develop made him a national story where judgement (sic) on his private Facebook posts has destroyed his life forever due to the ‘cancel culture’ that has became (sic) popular in today’s political environment,” the website claims.
An online crowdfunding campaign created on Love’s behalf through the “Christian Crowdfunding” platform “GiveSendGo” raised nearly $600 from ten donors as of Monday afternoon.
The campaign’s goal is to raise $150,000.
Love Enlists a Spokesperson
Love, who turns 45 on Sept. 1, tapped Baltimore City Republican Central Committee member Gary M. Collins to serve as his spokesman in this matter.
A Twitter profile belonging to Collins claims he is a leader in the “Maryland for Trump” organization as well as a “freelance photographer and “business consultant.”
Collins, 30, told ABC News on Sunday that Love was “trying to support the concept that there are always two sides to a story, and that unfortunately in today’s culture and heightened political environment, folks are very quick to cast judgment.”
“Mr. Love believes he was unfairly terminated from his public servant career without the Hogan administration grasping what even occurred,” Collins said.
“Mr. Love has dedicated his life to public service for underprivileged communities throughout Maryland. Any claims of racial bias or any sort of hate are categorically unfounded.”
Collins adds that Love “merely suggested on his private social media account, on his own time, that perhaps the nation should not cast immediate judgement (sic) on Kyle Rittenhouse before the court of law renders a decision.”
Love’s Facebook Posts Under Fire
Love’s social media postings came under intense scrutiny over the weekend after Love, a longtime Maryland Republican operative, posted a torrent of memes defending 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse of Illinois.
Rittenhouse was arrested last Wednesday and charged with five felonies and a misdemeanor after shooting three people Tuesday night with a semi-automatic rifle.
Two of the men Rittenhouse shot have died.
Maryland progressive activist and former congressional candidate Michael Feldman contacted A Miner Detail Friday regarding Love’s social media posts.
Love’s postings went viral by noon Saturday after hundreds of people caught wind and shared on social media.
Several state lawmakers and elected Maryland officials blasted Love and called on Gov. Hogan to fire him immediately.
The chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, state Del. Darryl Barnes of Prince George’s County, told Maryland Matters there was “no sense” in Love’s posts.
“There’s no reason someone like this should be part of our state government,” Barnes said.
Baltimore City Council President Brandon Scott weighed in on the matter, calling Love’s firing “the right thing to do.
“You can’t have someone working in state government who is supporting a terrorist, who shot and killed people because they were protesting,” Scott said.
Love’s Firing
Love told The Washington Post Sunday that he first learned that he was fired Saturday from watching “cable news.”
But Love told the Post he received official word Sunday morning that he was out of a job.
Love’s Facebook page, though, linked to a Wall Street Journal article Saturday, shortly before 3:00 p.m. Saturday, in which Love indirectly references the social media barrage.
“I’m actually dealing with this right now,” Love wrote.
“Screw the left.”
“The massive identity politics establishment” that “often accuses those who do not conform to their views as biased or racist,” Love added.
Love’s Facebook page disappeared from public view shortly after 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
A Miner Detail’s request for comment from Love has gone unanswered.
Love’s Memes
Feedback/Questions? Ryan@AMinerDetail.com.
