An attempt to censure Morton City Councilor Jeff Johnson failed by a vote of 3-1 during the council’s meeting on Monday, June 22, after nearly 15 minutes of back-and-forth discussion between Johnson and fellow Councilor Jason Sawyer.
The actual censure request came from Jason Knutson, another councilor who was not in attendance on Monday. Sawyer supported Knutson's request, though, and was the lone vote in opposition to a motion made by Councilor Maria Gonzalez “not to censure” Johnson.
Tensions between Knutson, Sawyer and Johnson came to light back in April when Johnson, overseeing the council’s regular meeting as mayor pro tem in Morton Mayor Rick Mead’s absence, got into an argument with a meeting attendee during public comment, as previously reported by The Chronicle.
The attendee had taken issue with how she overheard Johnson speaking about his fellow councilors to another local at a yard sale after introducing himself as a city councilor, claiming he was being hypocritical in his criticism of some of Sawyer and Knutson’s actions.
Johnson had taken issue with a “F-ck ICE, no human is illegal” flag Knutson displayed on his private property, and the attendee wanted to know if he was also offended by “F-ck Biden” and “F-ck Harris” flags that have also been flown in town by other residents along with Confederate flags.
And while he claims it has been accidental, Sawyer has been observed leaving his hat on during the pledge of allegiance recited, or isn’t reciting it at all at the beginning of every council meeting.
Back at Monday’s meeting, Sawyer stated since the April meeting that several local business owners have come to him to say they’ve been approached by Johnson — who has been disparaging both of them with the business owners, according to Sawyer.
“I don’t have exact words as to what it is that you said, but multiple business owners in town informed me that you are disparaging other councilors, in particular me, going above and beyond, ‘Oh, he doesn’t recite the pledge of allegiance,’ and saying derogatory statements about me,” Sawyer said. “Reguardless of whether or not I have proof of what exactly was said, I believe these business owners have integrity, and have no reason to lie to me.”
Repeating a statement he had said in April’s meeting, Sawyer stated that, just as a regular citizen, he felt Johnson’s conduct was unprofessional, as in April’s meeting, Sawyer told Johnson if he had any issues with how Sawyer was acting, to bring them to him directly.
“You’ve admitted that you go around and you speak about other councilors. I’m going to recommend that even if you don’t get censured, that maybe you don’t do that. Because that’s not appropriate, and it’s not professional,” Sawyer said.
Johnson told Sawyer while he respected his statement, he disagreed with it. He added he supported Knutson’s freedom of speech, but disagreed with the “verbage” on the flag.
He added when he was initially talking at the yard sale, he didn’t use Sawyer’s or Knutson’s actual names when talking about their conduct, and that he originally ran for his councilor position last year by talking to other Morton residents about what concerns they had.
“I think that’s my job. I believe it’s part of what we should do is interact with the community, and bring up whatever concerns we have. Some of those concerns involve a couple of council people. I have every right to say that,” said Johnson. “If it’s that disparaging, why let that behavior continue. It’s nothing but the truth, and if the truth is that bad that you have to try to censure me, I can only say that a lot of people look at this like, ‘good for me and not for thee.’ I have freedom of speech, and it wasn’t hateful speech.”
He stated he simply approaches constituents saying they have certain councilors who do certain things, then asking how they feel about it.
“I feel like you’re conflating the idea of telling people about voting, versus going to businesses in town and disparaging another councilor after telling them that they are a city councilor,” Sawyer said in response.
He also told Johnson he felt like Johnson was creating further division in the town. Johnson maintained what he said was not disparaging, and stated he intended to continue talking to Morton residents.
As for the censure request itself, Councilor Peter Hansen stated since the information from the business owners was secondhand and they had no proof of what Johnson had actually been saying, he was not comfortable with censuring Johnson.
The request to censure Johnson was one of the last items on the meeting agenda for the Morton City Council on Monday. To read about the rest of the city business, read The Chronicle’s coverage at https://tinyurl.com/4s4pcw4n.
