In the wake of the assassination of conservative pundit Charlie Kirk, a city of Springfield department head posted something on Facebook critical of the influencer and now he no longer has a job.
“I had never heard of this guy before he got shot,” James ‘Jayme’ Sullivan told Illinois Times. “I was on vacation when I saw the news and some of the vile things he said. I posted something on my private Facebook account and about two hours later I decided to take it down. But someone took a screenshot of it while it was up.”
Sullivan shared a meme quoting Kirk’s views on various topics including the Civil Rights Act, gay people and the Second Amendment and then added his own commentary. Sullivan’s portion of the post read: “This is the dick who spreads love? LMAO (laughing my ass off) fucking loser look at him now. I am seeing all of the maggots saying he spread love in his speeches!! No wonder Hillary called those idiots deplorable. Pathetic!”
A screenshot of his post was soon shared on social media along with a demand that the director of the Information Systems Division be fired.
Mayor Misty Buscher posted a statement on the city’s Facebook page late on Sept. 12 that alluded to Sullivan’s post, although she did not name him.
“As Mayor of Springfield, I condemn recent social media posts by a city director that appear to celebrate the death of an individual. This behavior is unacceptable. No one should ever celebrate a parent losing a child, a spouse losing their partner or a child losing a parent. We must never lose our sense of humanity. Let me be clear: promoting any violence, and any glorification of it has no place in our city.”
Kirk opposed same-sex marriages, affirmative action and said homosexual acts are sinful. Sullivan, who is gay, said he found these positions offensive.
“I was offended by it. Many of my closest friends are African American. I don’t appreciate the things he said about African Americans. I didn’t appreciate what he said about women. And so, I shared a post on my private page,” Sullivan said.
But he later removed the post.
“A couple hours later I thought, ‘Well, I should probably remove that because the dude had died and these crazy people on TV acted like it was someone of importance who died,’” Sullivan said.
He said he received an ominous notice that he was to meet with the mayor on Sept. 16 following his return to the office.
“I figured, why walk into a firing squad and an uncomfortable situation?” he said. “So, I decided to go ahead and just retire. I didn’t want to put (the mayor) in a bad situation and maybe have her do something that she didn’t want to do. I just thought it’d be easier. Plus, I was worried about myself. I didn’t really want to be terminated by her because I think so much of her. We’ve been close in a working relationship long before she became mayor. So, I just thought it was best for her and myself.”
Sullivan worked on Buscher’s campaign and was promoted to a department head position shortly after she took office. He was initially hired during Tim Davlin’s administration and had been with the city for more than two decades. Sullivan said he is now in a situation where he can comfortably retire from the city.
“I decided on the drive home from vacation to retire. Would I (otherwise) have left this soon? Probably not. I always said I would do at least one term with (Buscher.) I’m 57 and I don’t want to work until I’m half dead, then die after I retire. But ordinarily I wouldn’t have left this way.”
Buscher has named Jay Underfanger, who has worked for the city for nearly 30 years, as the acting director to replace Sullivan.
This article appears in SBJ September 2025.