Judge orders city council reinstate member who praised Pulse shooter for targeting gay people
The Florida woman who was thrown off a small-town city council by her colleagues for racist and homophobic tweets has been reinstated by a local judge.
Judi Fike was kicked off the Groveland City Council after her history of obscene and offensive social media posts was uncovered and published in a local paperahead of a city council primary. Fike was appointed to her seat last year and is running for a full term.
She called publication of the story a timed “political attack” just weeks ahead of her August primary.
Circuit Judge Dan Mosely issued a temporary injunction on the city, reinstating Fike to her seat.
Mosely agreed with Fike’s attorney, far-right former Florida state Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R), that Groveland’s City Charter and its code of ethics contain no provision for suspending a sitting member of the council, and that Fike’s case would likely succeed on the merits, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
“There is a likelihood of irreparable harm in that Petitioner is prohibited from voting at council meetings while suspended,” he wrote.
Fike and Sabatini celebrated the win online.
The collection of Fike’s offensive screeds extends back to at least 2015, and reveals deep-seated animus toward Black and LGBTQ+ people.
Just hours after the Pulse nightclub shooting in June 2016 in nearby Orlando, Fike posted to Facebook, “Duh….why would the shooter target a gay club? My answer…Easier than marching them up steps to push off the roof..some sarcasm, some truth…”
In 2015, Fike posted to her “Widow Fike” account on Twitter (now X), “Can we divert our attention back to real news? The #LGBT freak show has had its run.”
Two weeks ago, the city council confronted Fike with the posts in an open meeting, displaying screenshots as Fike watched.
Groveland Vice Mayor Barbara Gaines, who is Black, said the posts included “racist” portrayals of then-President Barack Obama as a monkey.
“This is a picture of President Ronald Reagan babysitting Barack Obama, except it is an ape, a baboon, a monkey or whatever you call it,” Gaines said.
In 2022, Fike shared a meme that read, “What’s the magic word to get what you want? Racist!”
Groveland has a fraught history of racism against. In 1949, false allegations of rape against four black teenagers known as “The Groveland Four” led to the extrajudicial killing of two of the teens and the wrongful imprisonment of two others. All four were posthumously pardoned in 2019.
While Groveland’s city council election is officially non-partisan (Fike faces two opponents in the August primary), it’s clear based on her retention of Sabatini as counsel where Fike’s political allegiances lie.
The one-time Trump-loving Sabatini is currently a member of the Lake County Commission, a step down from his seat in Tallahassee after the president endorsed his opponent in 2022 and Sabatini lost.
A check of Sabatini’s social media reveals the terminally online former representative is demanding the release of the Epstein files “NOW!!!”; wants President Obama indicted and arrested over Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s latest “Russiagate” allegations; and wants an end to “ALL” immigration to the U.S.
“EVERY Republican state should have their own version of an Alligator Alcatraz,” Sabatini posted last week. “The fact that they don’t is just pathetic. South Carolina should have a Low Country Lockup, Georgia should have a Peach State Penitentiary. Shame on these fake Republican states.”
Sabatini has a history of pushing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the Florida legislature, including bills to ban trans athletes in school sports and ban drag shows “for kids.”
Fike faces off against Michael Jaycox and Jim O’Neil in Groveland’s nonpartisan primary election on August 19.