Sacramento-area Proud Boy confronts school board candidate at voter event, videos show

A tense confrontation between two San Juan Unified school board candidates — one of whom is affiliated with the far-right group known as the Proud Boys — took place at a park on Saturday and circulated widely on social media after the two office-seekers shared footage of their exchange.

The exchange unfolded after Jeffrey Perrine, the Proud Boy, attended a meet-and-greet at Miller Park hosted by Ben Avey, a nonprofit leader who formed a parent advocacy group during COVID-19 school closures.

Perrine and Avey are not competing in the election. Perrine is running to represent Orangevale in the district’s Area 5; Avey is running for the school district’s Fair Oaks seat, Area 6.

Avey, who announced that he left the Republican Party in 2020, called the Proud Boys a hate group in a social media post after The Sacramento Bee reported on Perrine’s campaign. Perrine later said that post was one reason he attended Avey’s event with a videographer in tow.

“Conservative, Independent, or Progressive, we must reject hate groups and their members when they seek public office. There is no place for the Proud Boys on the San Juan Unified school board,” Avey tweeted on Wednesday.

Perrine over the weekend shared a six-minute video on his YouTube page approaching Avey calmly, and Avey shared his video on Twitter showing Perrine taking an aggressive posture.

Perrine began by asking Avey about how he would respond if the school district discovered a far-left activist teaching students on San Juan Unified’s payroll.

Avey then referred to the Proud Boys as the “modern day Klan.”

Proud Boys are considered right-wing extremists, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which says the group’s leaders regularly spout white nationalist rhetoric and maintain affiliations with known extremists.

Proud Boys have also been at the center of criminal and congressional investigations into the attack on the U.S. Capitol by rioters supporting former President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. The Proud Boys former national chairman was indicted in June on charges related to the riot, and dozens of other members of the group face criminal charges.

In previous interviews with The Sacramento Bee, Perrine said he has moved away from some of the national group’s positions. He still identifies as a Proud Boy.

School board candidate said he filed police report

Avey “compared me to the Klan, and to neo-Nazis, and that’s not who I am, or what I believe in or how I act,” Perrine said later.

Perrine said he didn’t raise his voice at Avey, and waited for Avey to finish speaking to voters, but the exchange was tense.

“Just so you know bro, you’re scared of me for a reason. And I am not going to go away,” Perrine told Avey. “You don’t call me a member of the Klan.”

“Yes, I do,” Avey said.

Avey’s sister also recorded the exchange. Avey said Perrine used derogatory language toward him before she began recording and said, “I’m coming for you.”

Avey said he filed a report with the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office.

Proud Boy expelled from GOP post

Perrine was expelled from an elected position on the Sacramento County Republican Party’s central committee in 2021 after a report from The Bee detailed his connection to Proud Boys. Local Republicans have been raising an alarm about his campaign.

“People tried to connect us via text, and I said very clearly I want nothing to do with him,” Avey said.

Perrine took issue with Avey’s criticism of him after The Sacramento Bee first reported that Perrine was also running for school board.

“Avey is acting like a conservative, but he uses progressive rhetoric,” Perrine said “He is endorsed by my opponents,” referring to Josh Hoover, a Republican running for state Assembly.

Before Avey announced his run for school board, he founded the San Juan Parents Association, advocating for a safe return to school when schools were still largely closed during the pandemic. Perrine also called for schools to bring schools back to normalcy, called for the end to vaccine and mask mandates.

“Part of the reason I am running is I want parents more involved in school boards, and you hear the same from him,” Avey said. “But it doesn’t mean we are the same. We have radically different opinions about what people should do with schools.”

This story was originally published August 21, 2022 at 5:11 PM.