This article originally appeared in Just BloNo.net on 03/15/2021.
Local Neo-fascist John Reed thought he was just going to slide into an elected position on the District 87 School Board. That was before a group of District 87 Zoomers clapped back and effectively destroyed whatever infinitesimal chance Reed thought he had. In less than 24 hours after the above video surfaced on the Facebook group Bloomington Deserves Better Than This Guy and on the website The Real Jon Reed, Reed retreated back to whatever reactionary hovel he crawls out of. He released the following statement on Facebook before promptly deleting his campaign page:
Anyone with even the vaguest familiarity in local politics has come across the festering stench left from Reed’s social media presence. When Reed isn’t gallivanting online as the Alt-Right ManBearPig Al Gore warned us about, he’s a humble underwriting services assistant at State Farm. Underwriting Services Assistants process claims on the back end and make sure all documents and signatures are present. No word yet from State Farm on whether it believes a fascist who promotes the murder of politicians is the best person for the job. In fact, Reed frequently advocated Ward 8 Bloomington Council Member Jeff Crabill be terminated from his State Farm employment for his political views.
It was surprising Reed even decided to run. Like, he said these things publicly, for the entire world to see. How stupid does someone have to be that they couldn’t predict their hundreds of blatantly offensive social media posts wouldn’t be an issue during his campaign for school board?
To be clear, Reed has only said he will no longer campaign for the position; but his name is still on the ballot, and he could absolutely still get a seat on the District 87 school board overseeing Bloomington children. Including Reed, there are 5 candidates to fill four open school board seats. The other candidates are Charles Irwin, Brigette Beasley Gibson, Fitzgerald Samedy, and Elizabeth Fox Anvick. Apparently, Reed and Fitzgerald Semany were running together for the school board
Unlike Jon Reed, Mr. Samedy has very little social media presence. He does not seem to have a campaign site or campaign Facebook page. He is listed as a Republican Precinct Committeeman. The above sign shows Reed & Samedy were clearly campaigning together. The sign was discovered in Nick Becker’s yard. Becker is currently running for Bloomington City Council to replace Ward 5 Councilperson Jodi Painter. His opponent is People’s First Candidate Patrick Lawler. Becker appeared to be a big fan of both Mr. Reed & Mr. Samedy. He publicly endorsed them on social media.
After the release of the Real Jon Reed video, Nick Becker quickly backtracked on his support, largely feigning ignorance. “Mistakenly, I did allow his sign in my yard based on a single conversation about the schools when I met him in February. When questioned about his sign in my yard which isn’t in district 87, I said that I was happy to have it and repeated its slogan about two good men.” Becker said. “I apologize for both mistakes above and for not doing better research.”
Ward 2 Councilmember Donna Boelan quickly jumped to Becker’s defense praising him for his apology.
Some in the community were skeptical about Becker’s alleged ignorance. Becker was at least friends with Reed on social media, including several of Reed’s fake accounts. It is certainly within the realm of possibilities that Becker is simply ambivalent about social media. Becker’s opponent, Pat Lawler, issued this statement:
Jon Reed certainly wasn’t hiding his fascism either. His campaign picture, on his now inactive campaign Facebook page, is John Reed with a 3 percenters hat on. The 3 percenters are a neo-fascist militia organization often made up of military & law enforcement. Some of their members were present at the January 6th insurrection.
Becker may be more closely aligned to Reed’s ideologically than he realizes. A core feature of fascism is the fetishization of authority for authority’s sake. It’s why law enforcement are prime targets of fascist recruitment across the world. Coincidentally, Becker was recently endorsed by the Police Benevolent & Protective Association Unit 21, the police union representing Bloomington Police Officers.
Not only did Becker receive their endorsement, but he received a $12,000 campaign contribution from the police union (so did Sheila Montney currently running against People’s First Coalition Candidate Willie Holton Halbert for the Ward 3 City Council seat). Police unions have been crystal clear that they will tolerate no questioning of their authority. Last summer, the local PBPA hosted a Back the Blue rally at their union headquarters in GE Park three months after the death of George Floyd where they basked in the adoration of authority fetishists while condemning Black Liberation & police accountability activists as an existential evil to society.
Becker didn’t mind supporting Jon Reed even though Reed was openly promoting the neo-fascist 3 percenters on his campaign page. He also doesn’t seem to mind the police union’s militant anti-reform & anti-accountability positions. Becker would likely continue to support bloated police budgets in some misguided belief that unabashed love for authority equals public safety.
Becker is connected to other fascist sympathizers. The McLean County Republican Party (McGOP) has been promoting Nick Becker, Jon Reed, Sheila Montney, & Fitzgerald Sameny for the upcoming municipal elections on April 6th, though the municpal races are ostensibly nonpartisan.
The McGOP is currently run by Connie Beard, a Trump fanatic who promoted 2020 election conspiracy theories because she simply couldn’t fathom that 81 million people hated Trump. The McGOP heavily promoted last years Back the Blue event and frequently advertise Thin Blue Line paraphernalia. Important & influential McGOP figures include County Board Members Chuck Erickson, George Wendt, and Jim Soeldner: all three have never encountered a boot which did not instantly inspire profuse salivation.
I guess my point is, neo-fascism very much exists in McLean County. Most of these individuals would probably not identify as fascists, and the degrees of their fascistic proclivities vary. Open fascism is rare, but the tendencies that fuel it (unwavering & uncritical love of authority, especially law enforcement; a libidinal satisfaction with the cruelty of totalitarian policies, like policing, imperialism, & immigration enforcement; and, the application of the profit motive to all existing problems) are alive in the reactionary right of McLean County. Fascist tactics are always just an arms length away from these officials, waiting to be utilized experimentally for the first time. McLean County has flirted with this more & more. From the abhorrent & inhumane practice of keeping jail inmates in solitary confinement as a COVID mitigation strategy, to the attempts to regulate & restrict free speech, or the unquestioning loyalty to police and the violence that comes with it, fascistic policies test the political waters for what is tolerated by the centrists & gleefully embraced by the right.
As Richard Seymour points out, this is fascism in its inchoate form. He says, “‘Inchoate’ is often used to mean ‘incoherent’, but its proper meaning is more like ‘incipient’, ‘immature’, ‘not yet fully formed’. It derives from the Latin ‘incohare’, meaning ‘to start, to begin work’ on something. For there to be a fascist movement capable of taking power, there has first to be inchoate fascism.” Radicals like Jon Reed are the inchoate fascists born out of the flirtations of those like Becker, Montney, & the McGOP, who flirt with fascism safely from within the confines of respectable political institutions.
As I said above, Jon Reed could still end up on the District 87 School Board. If he doesn’t, his running mate Fitzgerald Semany definitely will be elected as there are 4 open seats, and-minus Reed-only 4 candidates are running. Meaning they all get on the school board regardless of how many votes they receive.
Inchoate fascism is merely a precursor, an intro to a cruel ideology. The BloNo Left must remain vigilant against this very real threat. Zoomers won this round. The People’s First Coalition has released the below graphic hoping to spur action, and DSA BloNo has created an Anti-Fascist Working Group precisely to deal with this issue in the wake of the failed insurrection at the capital. But, will it be enough? When fascist-curious politicians already occupy positions of power in our community? When reactionary media stations like Cities 92.9 hold pro-police rallies and organize insurrection-curious mission trips to the capitol? Only history will reveal the future.
