‘Straight Delight’ parade organizer pulls out of Salisbury housing board

Native Information

Officers have been set to vote on whether or not Samson Racioppi would serve one other time period as a member of the Salisbury Housing Authority, however he withdrew his identify from consideration beforehand.

Samson Racioppi, a right-wing organizer who performed a key position in establishing the 2019 “Straight Delight” parade in Boston and coordinated bus journey to Washington, D.C., for the Jan. 6, 2021, gathering that become a lethal riot, withdrew his request for reappointment to the Salisbury Housing Authority.

Racioppi’s five-year appointment as commissioner to the board, which manages the city’s reasonably priced housing, had expired. He was considered one of two candidates being thought of by the Salisbury Board of Selectmen for the place. They have been anticipated to vote on Racioppi’s reappointment throughout a gathering Monday. 

However earlier than the assembly, Racioppi introduced that he had pulled his identify from consideration. In a letter posted to Fb, he defined what led to the choice. 

“Unbeknownst to me till very lately, prior to now couple of weeks a really small however vocal minority of people have politicized my reappointment for their very own private causes,” he wrote. “They’ve resorted to call calling, lies, and defamation to bully the city Selectmen into selecting to not reappoint me regardless of the dearth of credible accusations, supporting proof, or a file of incompetence concerning my duties.”

One of many residents against Racioppi’s reappointment, Monique Greilich, informed The Boston Globe that him serving on a city board was “embarrassing and shameful,” and that “he isn’t an honest individual.” Greilich additionally informed the paper that she was organizing others to attend the assembly and push city officers away from reappointing Racioppi. 

Racioppi helped lead Tremendous Comfortable Enjoyable America, a protest group that garnered nationwide headlines for his or her “Straight Delight” parade. That occasion was ultimately countered by a large counter-protest. The group chartered buses to Washington, D.C., in January 2021 to help Donald Trump’s  “Cease the Steal” rally, The Washington Submit reported. Racioppi was a part of a crowd exterior the Capitol on Jan. 6 however didn’t be a part of the ranks of offended Trump supporters that ultimately stormed the constructing. 

Final 12 months, Racioppi ran in opposition to CJ Fitzwater within the Republican main for the first Essex District state Home seat. The race was seen as a litmus take a look at for GOP candidates in Massachusetts. Racioppi ended up receiving about 5 % of the vote in his loss to Fitzwater. Democrat Dawne Shand went on to defeat Fitzwater in November. 

In his letter, Racioppi stated that he joined the Housing Authority in 2018 after listening to a “horror story” from a senior resident and being moved to assist. He stated the board has been extra profitable lately, and touted the truth that it didn’t impose “draconian rules or mandates” on residents in the course of the peak of the pandemic.

Racioppi stated he nonetheless views himself as way more certified for the place than some other candidate, however in the end concluded that it was in the very best curiosity of everybody concerned for him to maneuver on. 

“As a lot as I need to defend in opposition to the lies of those people and maintain the Selectmen to a vote on this matter, I imagine this kind of discourse is damaging to everybody concerned,” he wrote.