Maryland official fired over social media posts defending teen shooting suspect in Wisconsin

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    BALTIMORE, MD (WBAL) — An uproar over social media posts led to the firing of a member of Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration.

Arthur Love IV was fired Saturday from his job as deputy director of the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives. Posting as Mac Love on social media, he seemed to offer support with comments and pictures for 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, of Illinois, who is charged with murder in the shooting of two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

In emails to 11 News, Steve McAdams, the executive director of the Governor’s Office on Community Initiatives, said, “These divisive images and statements are inconsistent with the mission and core values of the Office of Community Initiatives. Earlier today, I relieved this employee of his duties. Kevin Craft, administrative director of the Governor’s Commission on African Affairs, will assume these duties effective immediately.”

Gubernatorial spokeswoman Shareese Churchill wrote: “These posts are obviously totally inappropriate. We fully support the immediate actions taken by Director McAdams to address this matter.”

Montgomery County Delegate Eric Luedtke, D-District 14, commented about Love’s posts, saying, “This is one of the FB posts by Governor Hogan’s deputy director of community initiatives who oversees — I’m not kidding — the Commission on African American History and Culture. Fire him.”

Luedtke also mentioned police reform, telling the governor “issue the executive order on use of force you should’ve issued months ago.”

Prince George’s County Delegate Darryl Barnes, D-District 25, wrote in a statement: “As the chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, I would like to thank the governor and his team for acting swiftly in the removal of Mr. Love from his position. I think that he did the right thing in that he has shown that the display of hatred is unacceptable. I think that all legislators should speak out against hate in order to show that it will not be tolerated.”

Zainab Chaudry, director of the Maryland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, wrote in a statement: “While CAIR applauds the governor’s administration for taking appropriate action in this case, we are urging them to also take this opportunity to review and communicate internal policies and codes of conduct with officials within to avoid a repeat of this incident in the future.”

Responding to the reaction, it appears Love posted another message on social media, saying: “Be careful … Don’t support the 17-year-old American or people might call you a racist, or I don’t know, get you fired from your job.”

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