Facebook posts of county auditor challenger criticize taxes, public education, women, political parties and LGBTQ+ individuals

Two years of Facebook posts written by Rodger Roeser, the Republican candidate for Lorain County auditor, show him highly critical of some of the primary roles of the office he is seeking to take in the Nov. 8 election. Roeser said Wednesday he stood by everything he wrote and that he didn't see the big deal about any of it. "It's a personal Facebook page. Who cares? I have 20 friends that read it," he said. The posts include: "If everyone stops paying taxes what are they going to do? Arrest all of us. All small business owners out there stop paying taxes. I'm in and I'm leading this charge. Hey federal government. (Expletive) you. I will no longer support your corruption. Come arrest me," he wrote on his personal Facebook page on Jan. 10, 2021. "I will stop paying taxes. Will gladly go to jail" he wrote on March 3, 2021, above a link he shared to a story from TheConservativeOpinion.com. Along with taxation, he also criticizes public education, Democrats, Republicans, women, transgender people and others. The Chronicle-Telegram was provided digital screenshots of numerous posts Roeser made on his personal Facebook page from late 2020 through early 2022. All the posts reviewed by The Chronicle were dated prior to Roeser announcing his candidacy for county auditor, which he did on Jan. 31. He is challenging Democratic incumbent Craig Snodgrass. A graduate of Kent State University — which he called "a liberal haven for communists" in one Facebook post — Roeser said Wednesday he believes public schools are unnecessary and shouldn't be supported by taxpayers. Humans survived for "thousands" of years without public schools, all of which should be privatized." The statements echoed Roeser's other Facebook posts "Teachers and their communist union are killing our country," Roeser wrote on March 10, 2021. "Teachers at the local level are useless. If it's video, it can be done like any online course. Private schools are open. Charter schools are open. It's clear public schools are unnecessary." In a subsequent reply, he wrote: "And if it's just online don't we just need like 30 teachers in the entire USA. Just log on. Get your learning and take your test. Why do we need so many teachers? Fire em all." He also shared memes that bashed public education. "Perhaps the greatest mistake made in American history was allowing the government to educate our children," read one that Roeser posted on Oct. 6, 2021. "Pull your kids out of government school," he wrote on Nov. 3, 2021. Roeser's posts were also critical of women. "Men are just better at stuff, women should just make sandwiches," he wrote in one undated post. "Guys are just better at stuff," he wrote in another. Events like "women's business galas" or identity-based awards and organizations are "money grabs," Roeser said Wednesday. Snodgrass said Wednesday he is proud of his wife and daughters and doesn't want them "to have to face those same views" Roeser posted on Facebook. "Absolutely uncalled for," Snodgrass said. "I take that one very, very personal." Most of Snodgrass' employees are women, he said, and he'd "highly question" the ability of someone running for auditor while holding the views Roeser shared. Roeser also said Wednesday that "I don't hate LGBTQ people." But his Facebook posts appeared to mock them. "As a new brave and proud non cis gender lesbian black Jewish woman I am looking forward to pooping in the women's restroom," Roeser wrote on Dec. 16, 2020. "It is my right as a fellow woman. Happy Hanukkah." ("Better light those candles," he added later.) "So happy today I've come out as a 7-year-old Japanese girl. It's awesome," he wrote on Feb. 21, 2021: Four days later, he wrote that people who identify as other than heterosexual are making a "trendy choice because they think it's cool." He also expressed disgust in a post on Sept. 6, 2021, in which he shared a news story about U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband announcing they had adopted twins. A photo with the story showed the couple holding their children in a hospital bed. "I'll try not to vomit but I do really want to know why are they in a hospital bed," Roeser wrote. Roser also misgendered Adm. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman who has served as the assistant U.S. secretary of health since March 2021, and transgender "Jeopardy!" champion Amy Schneider, a Dayton native. Roeser called Levine "One more weirdo." "I'm sure he is highly qualified and the fact that he is insane and thinks he is a woman has nothing to do with it. Liberals are insane," Roeser wrote on Jan. 21, 2021, following news that Biden had nominated Levine for the post. "It's a he," Roeser said about Schneider in an undated Facebook post reviewed by The Chronicle. "You can pretend all you want. Liberals are insane." Roeser called Vice President Kamala Harris a "vile who're" in a post on Jan. 15, 2021. "This vile creature that even Democrat voters rejected will be your president in a year," he wrote. "She screwed to get ahead in local politics. She is a disgrace. While I'm allowed to share I will. Your incoming president is a vile who're." On May 15, 2021, he wrote that Harris "is a hoe." Liberals are "a brainwashed cult"; "scam artists"; "snake oil salesman"; and "insane," Roeser wrote. They are "stupid," "bullies," "want isreal whiped out [sic]," are "disgusting anti Semitic creatures," "ruined sports" and "love slavery," he wrote in other posts. Republicans also were on the receiving end of Roeser's ire. "Make no mistake the Republicans are feckless (expletives). Literally useless. They don't represent you. They are just Democrats in tuxedos," he wrote on Feb. 2, 2021. "The Republican party is dead. I will not ever vote for another Republican. Our country is over. That party is dead. They did it to themselves," Roeser wrote the following day, Feb. 3, 2021. Roeser, who runs a Sheffield-based marketing, advertising and public relations agency for small businesses, said Wednesday that the things he posted on Facebook "are mine and mine alone and things I post for friends." "Do I have an agenda, personally? Yes, I do. There are things that I believe very strongly about. And I share that," he said. "And if it makes people open their minds or gets people talking or gets people discussing, I hope it does. I'm hoping to convert some Democrats into going 'Boy, that is kind of absurd.'" "My personal views on certain things that are going on on a national scale or culturally are my personal views, and I'm hoping to create some level of conversation or discussion between people where they can point out the absurdity," Roeser said. "I have nothing against — pick a group — Everyone likes to have their little identity politics." The county auditor is tasked with establishing real property value and calculating real estate property taxes, according to the County Auditor's Association of Ohio. The majority of property taxes paid in Ohio go to funding its public schools, but a number of Roeser's previous Facebook posts and comments he made in Wednesday's interview made it appear he doesn't care either for taxes or public education. Snodgrass called Roeser's comments and Facebook posts "out there" and "quite offensive." He said the types of biases and views Roeser appears to have don't belong in an elected position. The Lorain County Auditor's Office works "very closely" with school officials and school districts on levy and tax issues, Snodgrass said. "It may be known (Roeser) doesn't want to pay taxes, but that's the system we have and the system we're sworn to uphold," he said. "Our authority is to carry out the rules of the legislature and the laws." Snodgrass said he respects teachers and what they had to do to keep teaching through the COVID-19 pandemic. "Teachers worked and we learned how much more difficult their jobs were," he said. "It was a huge challenge and they did a great job getting us through that time. To have a total lack of respect for that has no place in the job as auditor." Roeser wouldn't commit to a yes or no answer on whether he believes President Joe Biden was legitimately elected in 2020, but he had strong views on the matter in 2021. "Still have to check this but for everyone who thinks Biden won he didn't and it wasn't even close. I believe we witnessed a coup and folks are going to jail," he wrote on April 27, 2021 (Facebook rated that "False Information," according to a screenshot of the post). "This election was a fraud," Roeser wrote on July 16, 2021. "Trump won in a landslide. We witnessed a coup and people will be going to prison. Personally, I don't care who actually won but we have to have faith in the integrity of the election.""81 million votes my ass," he wrote Sept. 23, 2021. "They cheated and we are paying for it. Liberal policies don't work. Just look around." The 2020 election is widely regarded as one of the most secure in history, by multiple sources including former Trump officials, state elections officials and analysts. The U.S. Supreme Court and courts in more than half a dozen states have rejected legal challenges to the outcome, and more than 60 such lawsuits were dropped — mostly due to a lack of evidence. Asked Wednesday if he believes Biden is the legitimately elected president, Roeser said "I don't know how that affects his property taxes." The Lorain County Board of Commissioners gave a $5,000 small-business grant to Roeser's firm, The Eisen Agency, from American Rescue Plan Act funds on Aug. 31 after he applied and met all the requirements of the grant — intended to support small businesses that suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Roeser said he didn't have any qualms accepting the money, which he said were his tax dollars to begin with. "Oh hell no. Hook me up to the gravy train. If Uncle Joe (Biden) is gonna give it away I'm going to stand in line," Roeser said. Asked why, if he believed that, he is running for office as a Republican, Roeser said Wednesday he'd "never win" if he ran as an independent. Roeser said he wouldn't be an auditor just for Republicans or Democrats, but for all Lorain County residents. "I'm an equal opportunity guy for all, I don't give a (expletive) what color, persuasion, or anything, that's how we were all brought up," he said Wednesday. "What's changed now is everything is virtue signaling and everything is identity politics." Snodgrass said his office serves "all people" of all political parties or none. "It doesn't matter what they do for a living," Snodgrass said. "We treat them the same and with respect and clearly (Roeser's) posts don't show that." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.