Why Love’s labors were lost: Social media posts failed the Hogan test
There is a certain inescapable symmetry to the case of Len Foxwell, the chief of staff to Comptroller Peter Franchot who kept his job for harshly chastising on social media those who foolishly sought to overturn stay-at-home orders during the height of the pandemic last April, and that of Arthur “Mac” Love IV, the former deputy director of the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives. Mr. Love lost his job for unwisely describing as a “genuinely good person” the 17-year-old Illinois man who allegedly took an AR-15 style rifle to Wisconsin and gunned down two men in Kenosha. He also defended the police officer accused of shooting Jacob Blake seven times in the back. Both men had active Facebook pages. Both had a political background and served at the pleasure of elected officials. Both got a lot of attention from the ultra-right whom Mr. Foxwell described so memorably as engaging in a “bacchanalia of buffoonery.”
On Monday, Mr. Love, his attorney, and a handful of friends and defenders tried to salvage his reputation and perhaps get some compensation for his abrupt dismissal. They held a news conference outside a West Baltimore elementary school where they decried his loss of free speech and saw hypocrisy in Mr. Foxwell’s continued employment. And to be fair, Mr. Foxwell did not just call those Reopen Maryland protesters names but at one point raised the possibility that they might be locked in a room to share the coronavirus “and let Darwin work his magic.” Perhaps Mr. Love thought he was being equally facetious when he rhymed “Don’t be a thug if you can’t take a slug” in his gruesome defense of police brutality. This would be an odd sensibility for someone whose job it is to link state government with people of faith, differing ethnic and cultural groups and with volunteer efforts statewide. But at least one can’t claim Mr. Love is the first Republican to ever express such thoughts. Had he worked in the White House, he might even have been promoted.
No, the bottom line difference between the two cases is simply this: Mr. Franchot did not judge Mr. Foxwell’s behavior to be worthy of firing. Mr. Love’s immediate supervisor, Steve McAdams, did and his ultimate boss, Gov. Larry Hogan, approved. This is how it works in what are known as “at will” jobs, those positions outside the civil service where governors and lesser elected officials stick their loyalists. Unless a firing represents an especially blatant violation of employment law (because of race or gender or for blowing a whistle on wrongdoing, for example), governors have the authority to send you packing simply because they think someone else could do the job better.
At least Mr. Love and his posse were correct about one thing. The recent resignation of Roy McGrath likely had some impact here. The governor’s former chief of staff received a six-figure severance package from the Maryland Environmental Service for simply transferring jobs across state service and midpandemic that looked really, really bad. One imagines the second floor of the State House saw yet another employment controversy right now in the same way others might look upon five hours of root canal. Mr. McAdams issued a statement saying
Mr. Love was dismissed for “divisive images and statements [that] are inconsistent with the mission and core values of the Office of Community Initiatives.” That may be true. We can see how it would be pretty hard for Mr. Love to do his job now. But we’re pretty sure embarrassing Governor Hogan didn’t help his case. Everyone in Annapolis knows the score.
Let’s be clear: we don’t condone the message that Mr. Mac was sending or the views he was espousing. But it’s difficult for him to argue a free speech violation when he serves at the pleasure and is not a civil servant who was hired out of a merit system. If Governor Hogan or anyone else in elected office wants to end the practice of hiring individuals who helped them get elected in this or that county or proved an especially good campaign fundraiser or maybe just because they are a friend of a friend we would support that decision 100%. The fewer at will employees the better has long been our view. But we’re going to guess that the politically-connected would rather have their cake and eat it, too, with no merit hurdles and cushy jobs from which they can’t be fired no matter what idiocy they post on social media. Sorry, Mac, but you worked for the wrong Republican. You should check out D.C., at least for a few months more.