Augusta’s school district filed a civil suit last week against a conservative activist and internet personality after a brief altercation the district said amounted to assault.
In the board’s latest skirmish with right-wing provocateurs, the district alleged Tim Bodnar, known by his online moniker “Truth Slinger,” assaulted a school official at a June 10 board meeting.
Bodnar, who has a history of showing up at school board meetings across the state, appeared to put his arms up as the official approached him from behind, making contact and pushing her backward. Maine law allows school districts to sue individuals for threatening or hostile behaviors for up to $500.
In a Tuesday Facebook post, Bodnar said he was protecting his property, seeming to believe the administrator was intending to take his phone. He could not be reached for comment by Bangor Daily News on Wednesday.
The suit is a new strategy in the city’s bid to calm raucous public meetings that have been disrupted by right-wing protesters in recent years. It comes shortly after a judge barred the district from enforcing a provision of its public comments policy that prohibited gossip, abuse and vulgarity.
Bodnar attended last week’s meeting in Augusta to protest against board member Jonathan Reynolds, who pleaded guilty to domestic violence related charges in the past. During the public comment period of the meeting, Bodnar took out his phone and played aloud an apparently AI-generated song that repeatedly claimed Reynolds was a “woman beater.”
“Augusta’s got a problem and his name is Jon Reynolds,” the song said.
Reynolds, who did not attend the meeting, said he was aware of Bodnar’s claims, which have been shared widely on social media. He acknowledged past charges but denied ever beating a woman.
“There’s never been a point in my life where I’ve been a woman beater,” he said. “There’s never been a time in my life where an incident that I had been involved with could be considered that either.”
He declined to describe the past charges against him in detail but said he would address the controversy publicly in the future.
After making contact with the school official at the board meeting, Bodnar began shouting at the board, asking where Reynolds was while the AI country-rock tune blared. As its outro played, he told one official, “You ain’t no man, f****** beta male.”
Another AI-generated song, a derisive pop number about transgender students, began playing as Bodnar left the lectern and exited the room.
It’s far from Augusta’s first run-in with the activist right. Nicholas Blanchard, a fellow provocateur who goes by the nickname “Corn Pop,” is currently suing the school board over alleged free speech violations. He has gained a significant following online, but lost a race to join the school board by a wide margin earlier this month. A set of protesters attempting to ban transgender athletes from girls sports and private spaces stripped at a board meeting last fall.
Bodnar, a St. Albans resident, has had run-ins with boards across the state. In protest of transgender rights policies in Augusta, he once showed up at a board meeting in drag. In the fall, police in Lincoln investigated a school board member who slapped Bodnar’s phone out of his hand. Bodnar had shown up to push the district to fire a teacher who allegedly made negative comments about Charlie Kirk in the wake of his death.
Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers.