At a meeting on Tuesday night, members of the Franklin Board of Mayor and Alderman made public statements against At-Large Alderman and mayoral candidate Gabrielle Hanson’s campaign, false statements and threats she’s made and the Nazi activity connected to her.
Neo-Nazis attended a Franklin candidates forum last week to support and protect Hanson. Nazi groups have since made threats against residents, journalists, ethics-hearing complainants and others.
Ward 2 Alderman Matt Brown added Hanson’s censure to next month’s Nov. 14 board meeting agenda. The board could not censure her last night as “there’s a 48-hour notification period required by law.”
“If it were allowed procedurally, I’d propose a censure tonight,” Brown said. “Not for the previously discussed ethical violations from which I’ve abstained, her insensitivities towards families who have experienced loss either due to violence or disease, or even for her constant lies and hypocrisy, but for reasons that are far more hurtful, incendiary and frankly dangerous to our city.”
Ward 1 Alderman Beverly Burger called for candidates running in the Oct. 24 election to speak out.
“If it wasn’t election time, [Hanson] would already be censured, maybe multiple times,” Burger said. … “We as a board have been cautious not to use this opportunity during this election in order to avoid being unjustly accused or accused as supporting or harming anyone’s campaign.”
She asked Hanson, “Is it your mission to divide the community? If so, you are doing a bang-up job.”
Ward 3 Alderman Jason Potts also encouraged candidates to speak out against the Nazis and Hanson’s actions.
“We will not tolerate any form of hatred, intimidation, or violence directed at our residents, media representatives, or anyone else attending or participating in the democratic process,” he said. “We encourage everyone to participate actively in our democracy, attend public forums, vote and engage in constructive dialogue to address the issues that matter most to our city.”
At-Large Alderman Brandy Blanton added to her board members’ sentiments.
“The intended effect of the [Nazi] group was to bully and intimidate and to push forward its self-proclaimed hate-filled ideology,” she said. “All of us on BOMA except Alderman Hanson have condemned these actions, and there is no place in Franklin for this type of behavior.”
Hanson refused to take any blame. Instead, she blamed Franklin’s leadership, past and present.
“You planted seeds for years and years against our citizens, and they are coming to harvest,” she said. “This is what the citizens of Franklin are getting because of bad decisions and because of attacks on a church, because of attacks on a Latino church, because of attacks on a worship minister on our square. Those things are called spiritual repercussions, and they do come back to you, and it’s easy to shift all the blame. I just happened to arrive at a time when everything was starting to crumble.”
Hanson admitted that she was in contact with the neo-Nazis, and when they asked to come to last week’s forum, she said, “Please do not make a scene if you are going to come.”
She repeated baseless claims that organized antifa groups were threatening the forum.
“They were here because they are an anti-antifa group and the dark web is showing massive Antifa activity,” Hanson said. “With a state antifa leader that lives about 15 minutes from Franklin. And that’s why they came out and I don’t denounce any of my clients. I have a Black client, a lesbian client, a Muslim client. I have Brad Lewis as a client. I am not going to denounce anybody their right to be whatever it is that they want to be whether I agree with what they do in their personal life or not. So, when they wanted to come because they were concerned about what they saw on the dark web, I said ‘please do not make a scene if you are going to come.’”
At-Large Alderman and Vice Mayor Clyde Barnhill made the final statement.
“What we’ve seen the last three or four weeks is just not acceptable,” he said. “That’s not Franklin. That’s not what we grew up knowing.”
Early voting for the Oct. 24 Franklin Municipal Election for mayor and aldermen-at-large (Positions A, B, C and D) lasts until Oct. 19 at the Election Commission office on Downs Boulevard in Franklin. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday.
There will be eight locations to vote on election day.
Through Tuesday, there has been a total of 4,391 votes cast during early voting. With a week left in early voting, that number has already exceeded total of votes cast early from the 2021 (3,403), 2019 (1,774) and 2017 (2,328) elections.