Montco's Joe Gale Won't Resign After Controversial Remarks

NORRISTOWN, PA — Local and state leaders, along with municipal councils and school boards in Montgomery County, have intensified their calls for Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale to step down following controversial remarks he made about protests in the Philadelphia area. Gale, however, has doubled down on his statements and said he is staying put.

"I speak for millions of Pennsylvanians and Americans," he said. "I am not resigning for stating the truth."

A measure has also been introduced in the state legislature to impeach Gale.

In Gale's original letter on June 2, he said that police had been unjustly treated and that Black Lives Matter was a hate group that "screams racism not to expose bigotry and injustice, but to justify the lawless destruction of our cities and surrounding communities."

The letter sparked immediate sharp backlash, and a Change.org petition demanding his resignation had seen more than 85,000 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon. A peaceful protest against Gale was held in Norristown, and demonstrators with signs also gathered in front of his Plymouth Meeting home.

Numerous local officials have been adamant in rejecting Gale's words and saying he does not speak for local government.

"I imagine that there are very few sentient beings who believe that Commissioner Gale’s methods would result in less crime and disorder," Norristown Police Chief Mark Talbot said. "Let’s consider the real-world impact of this type of rhetoric. Although the commissioner’s statement has the intellectual depth of your average fortune cookie, his words will almost certainly add fuel to the fires that he’s ostensibly trying to extinguish. The net result is an increase in danger and difficulty for the cops that he may ironically be trying to support."

Many have been even more incensed by Gale's refusal to apologize. Locally, both the Norristown Municipal Council and the Abington School Board have issued statements calling for Gale to resign.

>>9 Montco Mayors Sign Letter Condemning Commissioner Joe Gale

"In the days since the comments were made, and with full awareness of how hurt and angry his words have made the citizens he was elected to represent, Mr. Gale has amplified his hateful, damaging, dismissive rhetoric," the Abington School Board said in a statement Wednesday. "We strongly encourage Mr. Gale to resign as he no longer has the trust of the community."

Gale has since attempted to pivot his letter into a stance on abortion, saying that "what constitutes genuine systemic racism is the disproportionate number of innocent black unborn babies murdered each and every day by abortion mill Planned Parenthood."

His comments on the protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd are at stark odds with local law enforcement leadership, which has participated with community members in peaceful protests around Montgomery County, including in Abington, North Wales, Lansdale, and elsewhere. The Police Chiefs' Association of Montgomery County also issued a statement reaffirming their committment to racial justice.

While Gale says he will not resign, some lawmakers are looking to make it a legal issue. State Rep. Joe Webster (D-Montgomery) introduced a resolution in the state legislature Wednesday that would impeach Gale.

“Citizens who exercise the rights guaranteed them by the U.S. and Pennsylvania constitutions should not be met with such disdain from their own government officials," Webster said.

In addition, the two Democratic Montgomery County Commissioners, Val Arkoosh and Ken Lawrence, formally censured him last week for using Montgomery County letterhead to issue his comments. Arkoosh called the censure the "strongest step legally available."