Gilberton PA Police Chief Mark Kessler Needs to be Removed

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:41 pm

Gilberton Borough Police Chief Mark Kessler should be removed from his position. His chief apologist, spineless mayor Mary Lou Hannon, ought to resign too. Both of these individuals have violated the public trust by engaging in or supporting violent and hateful speech that has no place in the rhetoric of public officials. While they cling to the First Amendment, they clearly misunderstand it. The First Amendment reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Nowhere does the First Amendment say “the mayor of a small town shall not fire or discipline a police chief who violates the public trust and engages in incendiary rhetoric, and the mayor must tolerate anything the police chief says no matter how mean or reckless without any consequences imposed whatsoever.”

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Mary Lou Hannon said a meeting to discuss the controversial Pennsylvania police chief’s videos had to be cancelled because of irate callers. Apparently Miss Hannon and the borough secretary were uneasy because of angry words expressed over the phone in response to the police chief’s profanity laced tirades on YouTube. Curiously, Mayor Hannon did not mention anything about their right to free speech nor did she express uneasiness with her police chief shooting a target clown which he called Nancy Pelosi or running a video on how to shoot a “libtard” out of a tree.

Because you know, boys will be boys, after all and besides it is not like anybody would ever go out and shoot a Democratic Congresswoman anyway. I mean shooting Congress people is funny, right? Just ask Gabrielle Giffords. On second thought, maybe shooting a target identified as a Democratic Congresswoman, even in jest, is something that law enforcement people sworn to uphold the law should not be promoting.

Mayor Hannon has publicly stated that she does not anticipate taking disciplinary action against Kessler arguing that he should be free to say what he wants in his free time. So apparently she has no problem with him advocating shooting public officials? Would she feel differently if the police chief was exercising his free speech by shooting a clown he affectionately called Mary Lou Hannon? Or would implicit threats on killing the mayor actually wake her up to the fact that what he is saying and doing is not acceptable?

Perhaps she has no issue with the chief’s violent rhetoric and reckless behavior because it is not directed at people like her but at liberals instead. Or maybe Mary Lou Hannon is just too weak to serve as mayor because she lacks the courage to take a principled stand in opposition to hateful rhetoric and irresponsible behavior unbecoming of a police chief. Either way she, and Kessler, both need to step down and put some adults in charge.

Mark Kessler is a menace to public safety who is a danger to himself and others. Two years ago he accidentally shot himself in the hand during a bar room scuffle while he was off duty. Now he broadcasts YouTube videos where he espouses insurrectionary rhetoric and fires semi-automatic rifles with reckless abandon at targets that he identifies not as criminals but as people who share a different political philosophy than his own. Firing him does not deny him the right to speak freely. He can say what he wishes and perhaps he can choose to find a more fitting line of work like becoming an NRA public relations spokesperson or a bassist for Ted Nugent’s band. However, he has no business serving as a police chief and quite frankly, if his chief enabler Mary Lou Hannon cannot bring herself to fire him, then she has no business serving as mayor either.

Keith Brekhus

Keith Brekhus is a progressive American who currently resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He is co-host for the Liberal Fix radio show. He holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri. In 2002, he ran for Congress as a Green Party candidate in the state of Missouri. In 2014, he worked as a field organizer for Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick’s successful re-election bid in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. He can be followed on Twitter @keithbrekhus or on Facebook.