Palm Beach County commission moves to rein in hate speech following anti-Semitic rant

Neo-Nazis and other purveyors of hate speech may find it more difficult to spew their hate at future county commission meetings.

The county's lawyer, Denise Coffman, was called on to determine what, if anything, could be done to prevent a reoccurrence of the racist and anti-Semitic remarks uttered by three speakers at an April 2 commission meeting. Two of the speakers ended their comments with “Hitler Salutes.”

In response, the County Commission, at Coffman’s request, amended its “rules of procedure” earlier this month to make it clear that the county mayor may cut off anyone who speaks about something over which the commission has no control. In addition, a speaker, who fills out a comment card, will now have to indicate what topic they will be speaking about.

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Coffman explained that, for example, a speaker would be off-base if he or she began speaking about "Trump's cabinet," noting that the subject is something out of the jurisdiction of county government. The rules, though, she noted, must be consistently applied, and everyone must be treated the same way.

The April 2 comments appeared to take the commissioners who were present off-guard. They came at the very end of a lengthy commission meeting.

Jonathon Baldwin, the first of the three speakers, warned Commissioner Gregg Weiss that he might be offended over what he was going to say. Weiss is the only Jewish commissioner; Mack Bernard and Michael Barnett are both Black.

Commissioner Marci Woodward noted that she was present "for that awful meeting" on April 2.

"I'm all for hearing opinions about what we do no matter how painful it is," she said. "If people want to come and yell at us about decisions we make, by all means, but we need to try to prevent what happened last month from occurring again."

The effort to address the issue comes at a time when the number of harassing and threatening acts against Jewish communities in Florida rose sharply in 2023, with Palm Beach County recording the highest number of incidents in the state, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The ADL said Florida had 463 documented acts of antisemitism in 2023, up from 269 reported in 2022. Three South Florida counties — Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade — accounted for just more than 200 of them. Palm Beach County reported 84 documented cases of antisemitism, up from 20 in 2022.

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One of the speakers on April 2 was Jon Minadeo II, 40, who was convicted of a misdemeanor for attempting to dump nearly 50 pounds of litter from the back of a U-Haul in March, 2023 onto lawns in West Palm Beach. The weighted plastic bags contained antisemitic literature.

Minadeo was prosecuted under an anti-littering ordinance but since then, the state has passed a new law making acts carried out against either religious or ethnic groups for the purpose of threats or intimidation a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines.

How will the Palm Beach County commission prevent future discussion of so-called 'off-topic' issues?

County Mayor Maria Sachs said she intends to use her ability to stop speech that does not comply with the new rules. Fellow commissioners would have the right to overrule her.

Last month, the city of Delray Beach, aware of what occurred at the county commission meeting, also amended its rules to allow Mayor Tom Carney to shut down hate speech. Delray Beach Commissioner Rob Long proposed the city adopt rules similar to those adopted by the county.

“Freedom of speech is not an unfettered right, particularly if it’s threatening or inciting,” Long said. Delray Beach City Attorney Lynn Gelin pledged to do further research to determine if more restrictions could be implemented without infringing on speakers' First Amendment rights.

Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and transportation. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County moves to rein in hate speech following Neo-Nazi rant