A local official in Iowa defied the governor’s orders to fly flags at half-staff in honor of Charlie Kirk, saying he did not want to honor a man “who did so much to harm not only the marginalized, but also to degrade the fabric of our body politic.”
Jon Green, chair of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, shared a screenshot on Facebook of a note he had sent to elected officials in the county, which includes Iowa City. In the note, he ordered flags to fly at half-staff on 9/11 in remembrance of those who died in the 2001 attacks, and asked “that we keep all victims of gun violence, including the slain Colorado students, at front of mind as we serve.”
The students he mentioned were shot at a Denver-area high school on Wednesday, the same day Kirk, founder of the conservative group Turning Point USA, was assassinated in Utah. While Green didn’t explicitly mention Kirk in his note to staff, he did address Kirk’s death in his Facebook post.
“I condemn Kirk’s killing, regardless of who pulled the trigger or why,” he wrote on the social media platform. “But I will not grant Johnson County honors to a man who made it his life’s mission to denigrate so many of the constituents I have sworn an oath to protect, and who did so much to harm not only the marginalized, but also to degrade the fabric of our body politic.”
Green, a Democrat, noted he would “accept any consequence, whether legal or electoral, for my decision. It is mine alone.”
When asked by HuffPost if he remains employed on Saturday, Green cited Iowa code Chapter 66, which outlines what it takes to remove an elected official from office, and said he’s “entirely confident” his actions are lawful.
“I have not satisfied any of those conditions [in the code], so the governor has no authority to remove me from office,” he said. “I’m sure if she thought she had some legal basis to do anything to me, she wouldn’t have posted on Facebook. She would’ve sent the law for me.”
Green told The Gazette the move was prompted by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ decision not to issue the same order after other instances of gun violence, noting he thought it was “a grievous disappointment” that the state did not honor a state senator from Minnesota who was shot and killed at home earlier this year.
In a post on X and Facebook, Reynolds, a Republican, called Green’s decision “disgraceful.”
The Des Moines Register reports at least two members of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors agreed with Green’s decision: Supervisors V Fixmer-Oraiz and Mandi Remington, who both expressed their support in emails to the Register.
“Supervisor Green’s stance affirms that our county will not elevate voices that work to strip others of dignity, freedom, and belonging,” Remington emailed. “I believe this decision is a principled one, rooted in respect for the people of Johnson County and the constitutional values we are sworn to protect.”
Green was elected to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors in 2021, according to a county website.