Fairfield County commissioners talk about dealing with negative aspects of the job

LANCASTER − Dealing with threats, negativity, and violence is sometimes part of politics, as the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump proved once again.

But it's not just national and international officials who must deal with potential danger. Fairfield County Commissioner Steve Davis said he's had multiple death threats during his political career.

Davis and fellow commissioners Jeff Fix and Dave Levacy talked about dealing with the negative aspects of the job:

Steve Davis

"There are times when it's a little more tense than other times," Davis said.

One of those times came shortly after Davis became commissioner in 2011. The county dog shelter's handling of dogs was quite controversial. Davis, former commissioner Judy Shupe, and the late Mike Kiger were under immense public pressure because of it.

There were community protests surrounding the dog shelter's euthanasia method, which was gassing dogs with carbon monoxide. After many protests and letters from the community, the commissioners changed the practice to lethal injection in 2012.

Davis said that's probably the most contentious issue he's faced as a commissioner or city council member.

"That had a lot of layers of difficulty to it," he said. "There were emails that wished for our death and in one case the death of my children. So it was an unsettling period of months there."

He said 99.9% of the people advocated their position correctly. But Davis said a small fraction were "maybe going a little out of bounds, I would say."

He said the commissioners received about 6,000 emails from all over the world. Despite all that, Davis said he didn't fear for his safety and that he doesn't now.

"I have a little chip on my shoulder based on my life experiences," he said. "And it just kind of created a little bit of an attitude that I'm going to do what I think is right every time."

Davis said he does not base his decision on his personal safety or concerns.

He said the sheriff's office backs up the commissioners with security in times of potential danger, depending on the circumstances.

Davis said it bothers him that leaders of both parties have to deal with the threat of violence.

"I wish the political environment was devoid of threats or violence, but that's just not the world we live in," he said.

Jeff Fix

Fix said he has never experienced death threats in his political career. But he said, "it's incredibly unfortunate that in today's world people feel like they can take another person's life in their own hands and decide what to do with it."

Fix said when a person is in a position of leadership there will be those that disagree with them.

"Sometimes vehemently," he said. "And sometimes to the point where those who are, perhaps, mentally unstable decide to take it into their own hands."

Like Davis, Fix said he doesn't worry about what could happen to him in the course of performing his commission duties.

"We don't have the platform that someone at the national level does," he said. "We don't deal with issues nearly to the effect that the President of the United States does. And I think we are more accessible. So people feel like they can come and have a conversation with us. It doesn't get to the point where they feel like they don't have a voice and they have to do something crazy."

While Fix has never been threatened with violence, the commissioners do take some occasional verbal heat. At the 2023 State of the County address he urged people to respect each other when talking about politics.

"No matter what you do when you're in a position of leadership like this someone's going to disagree with you," Fix said. "I think it's part of what makes America great, is that they have the right to come in and tell you that they disagree with you. It's always easier to swallow when they do their homework and have valid points of concern and reasonable things to talk about."

Even though some may disagree with him, Fix said he makes every decision based on what he thinks is in the best interests of Fairfield County residents.

"I do the best I can and do it the right way for the right reasons," he said. "If someone's going to disagree with me, so be it. But at the end of the day, if you feel really confident that you're doing a good job, that's all you need."

David Levacy

Levacy said it's a sad state of affairs when a president or presidential candidate is targeted for assassination.

"I remember the day JFK was assassinated," he said. "And that was one of the saddest days for our country that I can ever remember."

Levacy said he does not fear for his safety as a public official.

"First of all, I'm a believer," he said. "I believe in eternity with Jesus Christ. So consequently, if something were to happen to me, I'm ready. But with all that being said, it's not the way people ought to conduct themselves and hurt other people, regardless of whether it's me or another person."

Levacy said he'd like to see the country get back to some form of civility.

"We're not there," he said. "And we need to be."

Levacy said he's never received a death threat, but that he has indirectly had threats of violence.

"But not to the level of someone willing to take my life," he said. "I've never had one to that level."

As for criticism and negative comments, Levacy said he does what he thinks is right and that people have the privilege and disagreeing with him if they want to. He said the late Wendy's founder Dave Thomas told him to just do what's right if he couldn't figure out what to do.

"That's pretty simplistic," Levacy said. "But there's a lot of wisdom there. He told me that repeatedly many times. If you can't figure out what to do, just do what's right."

jbarron@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Fairfield County commissioners talk about dealing with negative aspects of the job