Beaufort Co. meeting devolves into argument between chair, councilman over Facebook use
Beaufort County Council Chair Joe Passiment on Monday publicly chastised a council member over his use of social media. The council member, in response, accused the chairman of secrecy.
Passiment began Monday’s caucus meeting by criticizing “misinformation” spread on Facebook Live by Council member Logan Cunningham, a staunch opponent of all county COVID restrictions.
Cunningham responded that Passiment had broken council’s and the public’s trust by creating an ad hoc COVID committee — made up of three County Council members and three staff employees — without the entire council’s knowledge. Monday’s back-and-forth between the two elected officials prompted several members of the public to interrupt the meeting and defend Cunningham.
“You’re out of order,” one person yelled at Passiment. “Go back to New York.”
Monday’s criticism of Cunningham’s social media posts comes amid a public fight between Cunningham and other members of county council over Passiment’s surprise announcement last month that he had created the ad hoc COVID committee. The committee was tasked with recommending policies and requirements for the county’s 1,300 employees and the people who visit county-owned buildings.
In an email sent Friday to all county council members, Passiment accused Cunningham of lying about the committee on Facebook.
“Because you are making your comments (inaccurate at best and inflammatory at worst) on Facebook rather than during meetings of Council, many of your fellow Councilmen are not even aware of the things you are saying or the positions you are taking on the issues which are before us,” the email said.
“In the name of the transparency that you complain is lacking in our decision making, it makes no sense for you to use a platform to which many of the public, and on Council, have no access.”
The email prompted Cunningham to post on Facebook that council may take action against him and called for his Facebook followers to attend the meeting.
Passiment, on Monday, appeared to backtrack from his email, and said he applauded how Cunningham “takes time out to inform the public on Facebook.”
But, he said, “when you do post, you have to be factual.”
During their argument, Passiment and Cunningham accused each other of spreading false information. At the center of their disagreement was how Passiment unilaterally created the committee.
“That is breaking the trust of your fellow council members,” Cunningham said. “That is not OK to me.”
Council member Stu Rodman, who was forced to resign as chairman in March 2020, defended Passiment’s creation of the committee Monday. He said he didn’t “really care” about the disagreement between the two elected officials, which prompted a member of the public to yell for his resignation.
Two hours later, the elected body voted 7-3 to support a slew of COVID-19 policies recommended by the ad hoc committee that Cunningham sought to dismantle. Among the polices: County employees and visitors will be required to wear masks while inside county-owned buildings, and employees won’t be charged sick days to get vaccinated.
In a statement texted to a reporter after the caucus meeting, Cunningham said he stood by his decision “to inform the people on the issues of Beaufort County.”
“This group was not created with the knowledge of all 11 members of county council and that breaks trust amongst us,” he said. “That’s where the red flags arise from.”
Cunningham’s Facebook video
Last month, after Passiment announced that he had created the COVID committee, Cunningham went live on Facebook from his car and accused Passiment of “closed-door politics.” He encouraged his followers to “share the mess out of this post.”
“I will do everything I can on my end to bring this to light and get as much information as possible,” Cunningham told his Facebook followers on Aug. 23. “I’ll ... hopefully get this entire group shut down. There’s no reason for this whatsoever.”
In his video, Cunningham incorrectly said the committee would create requirements for Beaufort County School District employees. He posted a correction on Facebook the next morning.
In an email sent to all council members Friday, Passiment accused Cunningham of spreading false information.
“Your recent comments on Facebook regarding formation of the Ad-Hoc COVID Committee, its recommendations, and the timing of those comments, have raised questions and concerns about the propriety of your conduct,” the email said.
“Clearly, as citizens of the United States we all have the right to express our opinions. And we do not surrender those rights when we run for political office. But as members of Council our words take on new and added meaning. As a Council, we need to have a conversation about constructive and productive out of Council statements about Council policies and procedures. I intend to start that conversation at Monday’s meeting.”
Prior to Monday’s meeting, Cunningham and former Council member Mike Covert called on their Facebook followers to attend the meeting.
“Tomorrow at 5 o’clock, during our caucus, we’re going to discuss my social media because I’ve been told that it is disrespectful, inflammatory ... and I’m not being transparent,” Cunningham said in a Facebook live video.
“So tomorrow, I’m going to go up there at 5 o’clock, when they may try to censure me, may try to shut down my social media, may try to tell me what I did was wrong and I’m going to go up there and defend it and I refuse to back down.”
Covert, who was among those who fought to remove Rodman as chair, called for Council Chair Joe Passiment to resign prior to Monday’s meeting.
“I have reported several times, dozens to be accurate, during my time on County Council of the shady, back door crooked deals being made,” Covert posted on Facebook Sunday. “I was able to get one Chairman to resign due to his harassing public behavior. The replacement, aka current Chairman, is possibly worse.”
Cunningham, Covert said, “came out about the secret ad-hoc committee that the Chair put together with one of his cronies at the helm — to come up with a COVID response for the County. The committee was assembled, in a complete violation of state law as it pertains to County Council’s and county employees. Joe and the Crooked 5 don’t care about that. ... they have an agenda and are moving forward.
I encourage you all to show up, call in, email the clerk etc. ... tomorrow, and demand transparency and that begins with the current Chairman resigning immediately.”
This story was originally published September 13, 2021 at 9:40 PM.
