An “Enticement Does Not Equal Excuse” protest against County Board member Alvin Wire will be held at Freeport’s Lincoln-Douglas Square on Saturday, July 25th at 10am.
The protest, organized by community members Sabra Baker and Anjanette Johnson, will demand that Alvin Wire resign from his seat on the Stephenson County Board.
Wire, a Republican from Winslow, has been criticized by local officials of both parties for his comments during a July 8th committee meeting. He proposed the creation of an “enticement clause” which would allow female employees to be charged with sexual harassment based on the cut of their clothing.
Baker and Johnson are calling on Wire to resign because of his “antiquated, misogynistic viewpoint” and his refusal to apologize for his comments. “If Mr. Wire cannot catch up to the modern world and its current views, then he does not need to be governing the modern world,” Baker told The Voice.
Baker and Johnson credit a “small army” of volunteers for helping them to handle the logistics of planning a political demonstration, such as providing a Spanish language interpreter and recruiting speakers.
They anticipate that at least 6 people will speak at the event, including County Board Chairman Bill Hadley.
Renardo Weathersby, interim chair of the Stephenson County Democrats, told The Voice that “any form of sexism or misogynistic beliefs has no place on the County Board or within our local government”, and that Wire should resign immediately. He said that he cannot attend the march, but that its organizers have his “full support”.
Andrew Chesney, chair of the Stephenson County Republicans and current State Representative for Freeport, did not respond to our request for comment.
The Facebook event for Saturday’s protest had received 110 responses as of 6:30pm on July 23rd. A petition associated with the event had received 634 signatures by that same time.