The ceremonial swearing-in of three Clackamas County commissioners, originally scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed due to “recent threats of violence,” the county said Tuesday.
Make-up plans and dates will be provided once they are determined, officials added in the notice Tuesday afternoon. The notice did not elaborate on what the threats had been.
The ceremony had been planned under Covid-19 protocols for new County Commission Chair Tootie Smith, returning Commissioner Martha Schrader and the newly elected Commissioner Mark Shull.
The event was purely ceremonial, as all three took their official oaths and began work last week.
Shull has been under fire this week for alleged racist and Islamophobic comments he has made on social media that recently came to light, and a spokeswoman confirmed to The Canby Current Tuesday that this was not unrelated.
“The threats happened following the revealing of Shull’s posts,” Clackamas County Public Information Officer Kimberly Dinwiddie-Webb said. “I cannot elaborate at this time.”
The county also said Tuesday that commissioners’ policy sessions and business meetings will be held exclusively over Zoom rather than in person for the foreseeable future.
