Beaufort Co. Council plans to hire PR specialist with history of inflammatory tweets
This story has been updated with information from Beaufort County Council Chair Joe Passiment, who said Monday morning that council likely will vote to remove the communications manager position from Monday’s evening’s agenda. The meeting is at 5 p.m.
In an effort to improve their public image, Beaufort County Council members are considering transferring to their control a communications manager who frequently shares inflammatory posts on social media.
On Monday, County Council plans to vote on whether to transfer County Communications Manager Laura Fanelli from administrative staff to a new communications position for the elected leaders.
A Twitter account operated by Fanelli, according to her Linkedin profile, is filled with divisive and vulgar language regarding controversial issues such as religion, race, politics, police and COVID-19.
The account is pertinent because, if hired, Fanelli would serve as the public face for Beaufort County Council and would convey the council’s goals and messages to constituents. In late July, Lt. Brian Baird, the top investigator for internal affairs at the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, was reassigned after The Island Packet reported similarly controversial posts he had shared on his Facebook page.
The new county position would help council get its “message out” and “better communicate with citizens,” Council Chair Joe Passiment said last week. The hiring was mentioned publicly for the first time this past week by Council member Larry McElynn, who said he’s recommended for the past year that council hire a “communications specialist.”
After this initial story published on Sunday, Passiment said council likely will vote to remove the communications manager position from Monday night’s agenda and move it to a committee meeting.
The new communications manager would work solely for council and would be separate from the county’s vacant public information officer position — which Administrator Ashley Jacobs said she is in the process of filling.
“At the end of a County Council meeting ... there’s an obligation on our part to get the message out on social media platforms about what was accomplished,” McElynn said. “I think that needs to be done immediately after a meeting so we can get as wide of a distribution as we can.”
Referring to Fanelli, he said, “we need to get someone who is proficient in handling social media platforms, and I think the person that we’re talking about has that skill.”
Council Vice Chair Paul Sommerville was more candid about wanting council to look good in the public’s eyes.
“I’m way past tired of relying on the better angels and the tender mercies of the Beaufort Gazette and some of these other publications,” he said. “I mean we’re getting hammered in those things because they can spin it in so many different directions, it makes some or all of us look bad.”
He said council needs somebody that’s “proactive in those areas” and “this lady we’re discussing has all of those skills.”
Fanelli, according to her Linkedin profile, has worked as the communications manager for Beaufort County since 2017.
“My professional background includes running political campaigns, marketing, event planning and fundraising, media and message development, campaign training, and public and media relations for small business,” her profile says.
Her Linkedin profile, where she identifies herself as a county employee, also states, “I’m on Twitter @LauraGina.”
That twitter page, under the name “LowcountryPatriot,” shows over 39,000 tweets riddled with conspiracy theories, references to shooting “rioters,” and some racist and inflammatory language. After the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette asked county officials about the profile, it quickly became private.
The account’s bio describes @LauraGina as a “Proud American, Constitutional Conservative. Pro God, Guns, Military, Life, Liberty. Real Men & Chivalry. Life is black/white, right/wrong. #Army.”
Fanelli did not immediately return a call for comment Friday.
Among Fanelli’s over 2,000 followers are the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Bluffton Republican Party, Beaufort County School Board member Rachel Wisnefski and Beaufort County Council members Mike Covert and Chris Hervochon.
In an email to a reporter on Sunday, Wisnefski said she unfollowed @LauraGina on Twitter after the story published.
“My following of Ms. Fanelli is not an indication of agreement with any of her posts/positions,” she said.
Covert also said that following the account did not mean he supported what was tweeted.
After the story published, Hervochon posted on Facebook that his “follow of anybody or any organization on social media does not represent an endorsement of them, their organization or any specific position or idea.”
The bulk of the posts on @LauraGina’s account are almost daily retweets of other accounts sharing political messages. Some are incendiary.
On Sept. 25, the account retweeted a video of a man punching another man with the caption, “The only proven effective social distancing is from black people.”
In June, in response to a tweet from another user, @LauraGina tweeted, “I have a Taurus .38 revolver and Smith & Wesson M&P 9 mm. Love them both. Also have zip ties, pepper spray, police baton, several military knives and a machete I’m itching to use. But that’s a conversation for another day.” The tweet included an emoji of a smiling face with horns.
In May, two months after Beaufort County issued a state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic, @LauraGina, in response to a tweet about the rise of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes, tweeted, “Those numbers r as truthfully counted as the Chinese body count according to Xi & his CCP. They trying to make the President look bad plus they make serious coinage for every corona death. Meth? Rona. Gunshots? Rona. Cancer? Rona. Heart attack? Rona. Car wreck? Rona. All lies.”
Asked if he was aware of the thousands of tweets before planning to hire Fanelli, Passiment, the chair, said he was not. He told a reporter that council did not conduct a background check on Fanelli because she was already employed by the county.
He said he would review the Twitter account before council votes on Monday.
Friday afternoon, after a reporter contacted Administrator Jacobs and several council members about the tweets, the @LauraGina account was locked.
In a statement emailed to the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, Jacobs said, “Regarding Ms. Fanelli’s personal social media accounts, I am not aware of any violations of the County’s social media policy.”
Council member York Glover said he had members of his family review Fanelli’s tweets after learning about them on Friday. They responded “no way,” to Glover voting to hire her as a communications manager for council, he said.
“If what I’m hearing is true, and it is this person, it would be hard for me to support someone with that type of attitude or position,” he said. “I think we should not be allowing taxpayer money to support that. I couldn’t see anybody with that view championing or writing on my behalf. That person, if they want to be employed by public funds, should run for a political position and let the voters decide.”
Called on Friday, Vice Chair Sommerville said he had not seen the tweets, but questioned the motives of anyone who would scrutinize Fanelli’s social media posts.
The first action item on Monday night’s County Council special meeting is listed as “COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER POSITION.” The meeting starts at 5 p.m. and will be streamed live on Facebook and on the County Channel.
This story was originally published October 4, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
