It has come to the attention of the Northwest Observer that Oregon Governor Kate Brown's Communications Director is using a .gov domain website to promote what are clearly left-wing views -- and may be doing so at taxpayer's expense. Sarah Wexler posted an article dated June 4 , inspired by the protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd. The article says,”Being a good ally, an effective activist, and supporting Oregon’s Black and African American communities means doing the emotional labor to educate yourself about how to be anti-racist.”

It goes on to supply links to a vox.com article entitled How to be a good white ally, according to activists. This article says, "The biggest calls from organizers around the country right now is to defund the police, and so the things that white people can do with the powers that they hold — that their black counterparts do not — includes pressuring electeds around defunding the police."

Wexler's profile on the MyOregon.gov site lists her as Director of Strategic Communications in the Office of Governor Kate Brown.

Wexler is certainly entitled to her own opinions on matters of policy, including defunding the police, but the use of her official title and the fact that she is posting such an article on a .gov website at least raises eyebrows, and is possibly even illegal.

Websites using the .gov domain suffix are strictly limited to actual governments. According to Wikipedia, "[u]se of the domain gov is restricted to government entities. According to GSA guidelines, this includes U.S. governmental departments, programs, and agencies on the federal level". Ownership of the domain name was not able to be acquired.

The following questions are raised:

• Does Governor Brown support defunding the police?
• Does Governor Brown support the other radical opinions in the article and in the linked articles?
• Who registered the domain, and what methods were used to acquire a .gov domain?
• Who is paying for the hosting on the site?

One lawmaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said simply, “In light of what the taxpayers have been through lately, this is in very poor taste.”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-06-07 18:40:17

Last Update: 2020-06-07 19:58:04