Crawford County, Kansas Republicans blocked from Governor Kelly's Facebook page
Article/Social Media & Politics - 2 minute read
The Facebook page for Crawford Count, KS Republican Party has been blocked from accessing Governor Laura Kelly’s Facebook page. A post made by the group on Friday, January 27, 2023, stated, “Why are we blocked from accessing Laura Kelly’s official Facebook page? Blocking political opponents from public social media pages used to disseminate official information was ruled to be a violation of the 1st Amendment when Trump tried to block posters on his Twitter account.”
Crawford County, KS Republican Party page manager Roger Lomshek said he discovered the issue after switching from his personal profile to the party profile where he was no longer able to find the page.
“I manage a number of pages for recreation and politics so I tried them all with the result that only the county party’s profile is unable to access the Governor’s page,” Lomshek said to The Kansas Constitutional in an email.
We reached out to the Office of Governor Kelly regarding the issue on Monday, January 30, 2023, to see why the page had been blocked and for how long. As of the time of this publishing, no one has responded.
Lomshek said he doesn’t “know if the county party’s page is intentionally blocked or if it’s some inadvertent setting on the Governor’s page that is blocking the county party’s page.” He also said that he’s willing to give them a little benefit of the doubt after looking at different potential causes, stating Facebook page management can be a “headache”. Lomshek also said he doesn’t believe the party’s page is so special that they would be singled out by Governor Kelly in this fashion.
“It’s possible this is an innocent mistake but it’s one that should be corrected,” Lomshek said.
In Governor Kelly’s State of the State Address on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, she made mention of working with both sides to cause positive change in Kansas.
“That’s why I’m asking you tonight to, again, meet me in the middle. On so many issues facing our state – from tax relief to water to health care – the best solutions aren’t Republican or Democrat. They’ll come from compromise and collaboration…finding common-sense, and middle-of-the-road solutions.
Over the next four years, we must see each other as partners, not as foes, to build on all we’ve accomplished in the last four years. Together, we will make Kansas the very best place in America to raise a family.”
Should the Office of Governor Kelly get back with us, we will update this article.