There's a disagreement brewing over Erie County Sheriff Timothy Howard, and his appearance as a keynote speaker at a pro President Trump rally in Downtown Buffalo.
That rally took place yesterday in front of Buffalo City Hall.
Erie County Democratic Chairman Jeremy Zellner is now calling for the sheriff's resignation, saying it was inapproprite for Sheriff Howard to make an appearance in uniform, especially in front of a crowd partially made up of white supremacists... carrying confederate flags.
Here is a statement released by Sheriff Timothy Howard:
I agreed to speak at the Spirit of America rally to share my admiration and support for the United States Constitution and to raise the awareness of the broken immigration process that our leaders have failed to address over the past several years.
I understand that some members of the crowd at this public event displayed a confederate flag and I know that members of the Black Lives Matter organization were there as well. But how can I denounce any group's ability exercise their 1st Amendment right when I spoke at length about honoring our great society and our Constitution But I do not support any group that uses violent and discriminatory rhetoric, but how can I limit their god given rights to public assembly and free expression.
What is concerning to me is the democratic chairman, with his ultra-left views, is calling on me to pick and choose which group is protected by the first amendment and which one should be stripped of that right. I don't support a white supremacist's view of discrimination and bigotry as I don't support Black Lives Matter's hate and call for killing law enforcement personnel.
I stand by my speech which represents my love of the US constitution and calls for our immigration system to be fixed and nothing else.
