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Many of the posts were allegedly reactions to a New York Post story, “MSNBC’s Joy Reid: Conservatives would trade tax cuts to ‘openly say the N-word.’ Haskell not only claimed the host was “the true definition of the word” but interacted with racist accounts in regards to using it.
“Our race is dying, we need to make more White babies!” Haskell wrote in one post.
But that’s not all. According to the Inlander, even her profile username, Beauseant_Deux_Vult, is a white nationalist reference to the crusader war cry “Deus Vult.” While the war cry means “God wills it,” “Beauseant,” is the banner of the Knights Templar that has been used commonly by Norwegian mass shooter Anders Breivik and other extremists.
“Here I am proudly posing with some Proud Boys,” Haskell wrote in another post. She even included a photo posing proudly with members of the right-wing militant group that the Southern Poverty Center has classified as a hate group.
Outside of supporting such hate groups, calling herself a white nationalist, and using derogatory terms and slurs, Haskell notably spoke about George Floyd calling him a “scumbag drug addict” and lamented the convictions of not only the officers who killed him, but the two white men who gunned down Ahmaud Arbery.
Countless officials have expressed concern over Haskell’s social media posts, even other conservatives who have called them “totally inappropriate” since they first began appearing publicly online in 2015.
“The Spokane GOP does not agree with Lesley Haskell’s politics,” Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said. “The GOP does not support her. There is very little association between her and the GOP whatsoever.”
But the main question is what are her husband’s views on this? I mean, his reputation is also on the line since she can be seen as a reflection of him. Haskell though doesn’t seem to care.
In addition to sharing her racist views, Haskell has no fear of reminding people of the position her husband holds. “My husband is the Spo Co Prosecutor and he’s the last line of conservative armor that the County has,” Haskell posted, according to the Inlander. “Spokane has gone to sh*t.”
One cannot even claim her account is fake because she is “verified” on Gab, meaning Gab has ensured she’s not impersonating anyone else and no one is claiming her identity.
Haskell’s posts come at a time when Larry is up for reelection this year. According to the Inlander, many of Haskell’s posts have appeared on the local Spokane subreddit, discussing Larry’s reelection.
To come to the bottom of the golden question on Larry’s views, the Inlander specifically asked Larry if he agreed with his wife’s comments but of course, he didn’t directly answer.
”The Inlander recently made me aware of social media comments attributed to my wife, which the Inlander finds concerning,” Larry Haskell said in a statement to the outlet. “In a right shared by everyone, I fully recognize my wife’s right to express her thoughts. In a previous discussion regarding my wife’s social media postings, I stated such were hers, and hers alone. I acknowledged that she is a strong-willed person who will speak her mind. I do so again in this instance.”
Larry emphasized that his wife’s thoughts and beliefs do not represent his and nor do they have an influence on his work; however, he did not comment on the fact that they are wrong. Instead, he issued a response noting that criminal justice practitioners should be respectful and name-calling rules do not apply to social media.
“I have also stated publicly, and in numerous forums, that as criminal justice practitioners, we need to adhere to respectful discussions in government to advance the public good, without descending into stereotyping, name-calling, or identity politics. I have not seen such rules applied to social media postings or the like,” Larry said in his statement.
Not to mention, it is problematic that he apparently became aware of the posts after the outlet reached out to him.
“It’s still someone who has very close ties and potentially has very strong influence on that position and the decision-making process,” Kurtis Robinson, vice president of the Spokane NAACP, said in regards to Haskell’s social media posts and connection to Larry.
He added at the least Larry could say “very, very clearly and definitely that is not his position, and he does not agree with it. I have not seen that from Larry Haskell.”
Robinson noted some of Larry’s stances and his opposition to the concept of “equity” and efforts to shrink the Spokane Regional Law and Justice Council as connections between the husband’s behavior and the wife’s behavior.
“When you put all those pieces together,” Robinson said, “plus Mr. Haskell’s position on multiple issues, the picture starts becoming pretty clear when we try to understand why he’s making some of the decisions he’s making.”
Do you think Larry should speak to his wife’s social media posts? Does a spouse’s social media posts influence what you think of them in terms of voting?
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