Investigator: Trump ‘traitor’ comment from Sacramento supervisor didn’t violate policy

A law firm hired to review Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna’s scathing social media posts found no evidence that his comments about President Donald Trump supporters violated any policies against discrimination, retaliation or harassment.

In a Jan. 3 Facebook post, Serna posted a New York Times article along with comments that chastised the Republican Party and Trump’s attempt to undermine the results of the presidential election.

“Never forget those who support, defend and enable the sociopathic traitor Donald Trump,” the post reads. ”They too are traitors and obviously care less about our Democracy and our Republic. Disgusting.”

Marking himself “feeling pissed,” Serna wrote in another post that day: “If you are a supporter of Donald Trump, you’re dead to me. You don’t matter. You are irrelevant. You are a traitor.”

A complaint was filed against Serna by three county employees soon after, including from an unnamed senior civil engineer and the top two officials representing the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff’s Association.

Their accusations came after a bitter presidential race and a tumultuous transition of power that culminated in an angry mob storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

On that day, the union called for Serna’s resignation and said his Facebook posts amounted to “hate speech.”

“A bias that alienates and scorns a significant percentage of the constituency living in his district is not becoming of an elected official and should not be tolerated,” the union’s statement read, in part. “Mr. Serna seems to subscribe to the same notion of the politically ‘elite’ that the rules, and in this case the Constitution, don’t apply to him.”

In a 25-page report released Wednesday, the law firm Van Dermyden Maddux concluded that each of their claims was unsubstantiated because Serna was either not in daily contact with them during the course of their jobs or his remarks were not directed to any specific county employees.

The firm also reasoned that his comments were “disconnected from the county’s workplace, and thereby does not unreasonably interfere with his ability to do his job.”

What’s more, the civil engineer said that he had never met Serna, although his engineering work includes Serna’s district.

The engineer said the post will affect his work with Serna and his staff in the future even though they’ve never worked together directly. “(He) stated he will continue to do work for Supervisors Serna’s District, but it will “rub” him “the wrong way every time,” according to the report.

Serna defended the comments to investigators, arguing that they reflect his “passion” for the country and in some cases are a direct response to derisive comments he receives online from trolls.

He told investigators that he didn’t believe the Facebook posts hampered anyone’s ability to their job, and his intent was not to limit involvement between his office and county workers.

‘Slurs and derogatory comments about Trump supporters’

The complaints by Kevin Mickelson, who is the president of the deputy sheriff’s association, and vice president Nathan Seger touched on the same or similar issues.

Both alleged that Serna used social media “to distribute and display slurs and derogatory comments about Trump supporters,” according to the report.

The investigators acknowledged that Serna and Mickelson had a contentious relationship after some community members pushed to reduce funding for the sheriff’s office last year. Mickelson and Seger said Serna was also supportive of the effort.

However, both said their primary concern was whether Serna’s comments would have an effect on the union’s contract negotiations with the county. They said that Serna was “biased” and that he will be “tainting” others on the Board of Supervisors.

Days after SCDSA officials filed their complaint, Serna posted about it on Facebook with a photo of Mickelson in a “Trump 2020” mask. The union officials said this was done in retaliation but Serna argued that he wanted the public to know where the accusation came from.

Both the retaliation and discrimination claims were deemed unsubstantiated.

“The evidence does not demonstrate that SCDSA or its members have suffered an adverse action,” the firm wrote. “ At present, Supervisor Serna’s Facebook post about SCDSA’s complaint is the extent of his action.”

SCDSA officials were not immediately available for comment. Serna said the investigator’s findings were a black eye for the organization’s leadership.

“It remains perplexing to me why the DSA decided their time and energy – not to mention thousands of taxpayer dollars – was best spent on investigating the content of my personal social media postings,” Serna said in a prepared statement. “It really calls into further question the judgment of the Association’s leadership, as well as the organization’s priorities.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 2:28 PM.