Florida official appointed by DeSantis resigns after KKK costume photo emerges

Local faith leaders demand now-former county commissioner come forward to address allegations

A county commissioner in Florida appointed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has abruptly resigned following the circulation of a photograph allegedly showing him wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood.

Jeffery Moore was appointed to the Gadsden County Board of County Commissioners in July, serving as the only Republican on the five-member board in the state’s only predominantly Black county for less than two months before his resignation last week.

He also has ended his campaign for the position in the lead up to November’s general election.

A brief letter of resignation to the governor’s office on 23 September thanked the governor “for the opportunity to have served in the position, however for personal reasons I am no longer able to continue.”

The low-resolution photograph published by the Tallahassee Democrat appears to show a man in a white Ku Klux Klan robe smiling at the camera while raising his arms at what appears to be a Halloween party. The faces of four people in the foreground are scratched out. A skeleton decoration is seen hanging from the wall.

It remains unclear when the photo was taken, who took it, and how it was first published on the internet.

The Independent has requested comment from the governor’s office.

Gadsden County’s population is 55 per cent Black, according to US Census.

Jeffery Moore was sworn into office at the Gadsden County Board of Commissioners on 2 August after his appointment by Governor Ron DeSantis (Gadsden County Board of Commissioners)

The incident comes nearly four years after former Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel, who also was appointed by Governor DeSantis, resigned from office after photographs from a Halloween party showed him dressed as a “Hurricane Katrina victim” in Blackface, two months after that deadly storm.

“There’s nothing I can say,” Mr Ertel told the Tallahassee Democrat at the time. The governor accepted his resignation, adding that he did not “want to get mired in side controversies.”

Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young told Politico that the photographs allegedly of Mr Moore were shared with him last week. He told the outlet that he approached Mr Moore about them and Mr Moore did not deny it was him.

“He never denied at all. Refuted nothing when I showed him the pictures,” Mr Young told Politco. “I thought he needed to resign, and I told him that.”

A group of local faith and community leaders have demanded that Mr Moore and Governor DeSantis address the photo and Mr Moore’s initial appointment to the commission.

Gadsden County Commissioner Brenda Holt said in a statement on Wednesday that county residents “deserve better” than Mr Moore.

The KKK robe “reflects dark and dangerous times for Black folks in Gadsden County and the state of Florida,” she said.

“We deserve a response from [the governor] regarding this appointment,” she added. “He needs to tell us if this is the type of people and organisations he supports and why [Mr Moore] was selected to sit on the our board when Leon County has had a vacant County Commissioner far longer than we had.”