Steve Lynch, the Republican candidate for Northampton County executive, describes himself this way on his Facebook page: “A patriot who loves God, country and truth. I am here to wake up America.”

At a “freedom” rally in Harrisburg last month that opposed vaccine and mask mandates, Lynch appears to threaten the members of the Northampton Area School Board, which voted to require students and staff to be masked. Lynch denies it was a threat.

In a video, which has been seen thousands of times, Lynch said that he was going to give the board members an option. “They can leave, or they can be removed. And then after that we’re going to replace them with nine parents, and we’re going to vote down the mask mandates that evening.”

Lynch also called for “20 strong men” to accompany him to carry out the mission. Of course, Lynch has no authority to remove board members or to take any official action that would impact district residents.

The fact that the nominated candidate for his county’s highest executive office, who represents a mainstream party, would publicly advocate pursuing such an extreme, off-the-wall course of action is scary and frightening and is yet another example of those willing to sidestep the law and policies when it doesn’t match with their beliefs.

One would think that concerned political leaders from both parties would quickly repudiate and condemn such talk. Lynch’s opponent, incumbent Democrat Lamont McClure did, in forceful terms, but the chair of the county Republican Party, Lee Snover, has not and continues to support Snover in his bid to unseat McClure.

Referring to Lynch as a “domestic terrorist,” because of his extremist views and for having being at the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington that resulted in ex-President Donald Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol, McClure said he is not surprised at Lynch’s comments. McClure said that Lynch is “dangerous,” and his incendiary remarks could lead to violence similar to what occurred in our nation’s capital.

Lynch has not been charged with any offense because of his presence at the rally, although he has been interviewed by the FBI about his activities on Jan. 6.

“I’m going after the school boards with masking and much, much more, Lynch said. Northampton School board, I’m coming for you, and so are many other parents. You are going to be removed, and I’m not going to stop fighting until you’re removed. You wannabe tyrants are going to learn real quick who holds the power!”

All of this came before Gov. Tom Wolf announced the requirement that starting Sept. 7 all PreK-12 public and private students must be masked while in class.

As a result of the comments, the superintendent of the Northampton School District has asked the county sheriff to assign deputies to upcoming school board meetings to supplement coverage by the district’s security staff.

Once his comments grabbed national attention and condemnation, Lynch has been insisting that his comments were taken out of context. “I don’t condone violence; I would never advocate for it,” Lynch wrote on his Facebook page.

Directing his Facebook comments to members of the Northampton Area School Board, Lynch said, “By no means did I intend to threaten physical violence against you or your peers.”

In another Facebook post, Lynch emphasized that the school board members were never under any threat of violence from him. In fact, Lynch added, if any kind of scuffle broke out inside a board meeting between board members and the public, “I would be the one protecting the school board member. I would be the first man to stand up and attack the assailant. That’s the kind of person I am,” Lynch said.

If I were a board member and heard what Lynch said at that Harrisburg rally on Aug. 29, I would have felt threatened and concerned for not only my well-being but for that of my colleagues.

He also said his other intention was to “eliminate the intimidation and harassment that was reported to me by parents at school board meetings” by some board members toward the public.

Claiming that the left cannot control its emotions, Lynch said his name is now “all over the world” because of the publicity he has received from the Harrisburg rally remarks, and he said that this will help propel him to victory in November.

If it does, God help us.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.