Rantz: Local prosecutor says sorry for vulgar, vicious swipes at conservatives

It only took a couple radio segments and a short blog post for a defiant prosecutor to finally give in and acknowledge his errors in judgment. As I discussed the posts on my radio show, we noticed his social media page started to become blank. He was deleting previous posts. Soon, an apology would come.

Greg Banks is the elected Island County Prosecutor. Up until last week, his public and personal Facebook account was littered with vulgar, vicious smears against conservative voters and President Donald Trump. He implied Trump supporters are members of the KKK and called them “racist bullies with second grade intellects and behavior disorders.”

The prosecutor originally defended his seemingly endless stream of vitriol, claiming “those are my personal views, and have no bearing on how we make prosecutorial decisions.”

Imagine working for this guy. pic.twitter.com/gi5sWS9kcd

— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) August 28, 2019

After the broadcast and blog went live, Banks had a change of heart.

Banks emailed staff to apologize, saying he had “done something pretty stupid.” It went on to say “That I was unable to see the harm my posts may cause to our reputation is more than embarrassing to me.” The South Whidbey Record, first to report the apology, breaks down the Greg Banks email:

He was wrong, he said, to criticize the president’s supporters with “sharp-tongued” rhetoric that fails to acknowledge that many of them are “rational and thoughtful.”

“I engaged in the same behavior I criticize the president and his administration for,” he wrote. “I was criticizing a stereotype of the president’s supporters, and did not intend to direct it at any individual, let alone my friends, family or colleagues.”

Banks told the paper that he doesn’t treat conservatives unfairly in the office, “but he asked anyone with concerns to speak with him, the office administrator, one of the chief deputies or human resources.”

He said, moving forward, he wouldn’t insult Trump supporters. Instead, he’ll focus his anger on Trump alone. He’s continued his unhinged posts, he’s just now keeping his disdain for conservative constituents to himself.

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