Less than two months after reinstating an option for the public to make comments via Zoom, Sonoma County officials are contending with the return of racist and derogatory remarks from some online participants during Board of Supervisors meetings.

The verbal abuse has come after the July revival of online access for public commenters during hybrid meetings to meet new state requirements aimed at bolstering public participation in government. But county officials, led by board Chair Rebecca Hermosillo, a direct target herself of some of the derogatory comments, are looking to establish stronger safeguards against the renewed stream of hate speech.

“If we continue to allow race-based discrimination in our community it will harm our democracy and who steps up to serve,” said Hermosillo, who is the first Latina to sit on the board. “If we honestly want public officials to look like the communities we serve this is not the welcome mat that they should walk into.”

Next year, the board is poised to have a female majority for the second time in county history and, for the first time, that slate will include two women of color. That’s because, this November, voters in the county’s 2nd District will decide between Joanna Paun, a Petaluma City Schools trustee who is Black, and Sylvia Lemus, Cotati’s first Latina mayor.

Also this November, voters in the county’s 4th District will choose between Melanie Bagby, a former Cloverdale mayor and two-term council member, and Tom Schwedhelm, a former Santa Rosa mayor and retired police chief, guaranteeing an additional shake-up on the board.

The escalation in abusive comments combined with daily reports coming out of the civil trial of former Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli, who is accused of sexual assault by seven women, spurred Supervisor Lynda Hopkins to call out the state of politics and public life — and the need to better support women — in a lengthy Aug. 31 Facebook post.

“The boundaries are breaking down, like the codes that society has operated by for a long time,” Hopkins said in an interview. “People are saying things they never would have felt they could say out loud and they are taking action.”

Sexual misconduct claims against Foppoli publicly surfaced in April 2021 and more than a dozen women, including a fellow Windsor Town Council member, ultimately came forward with allegations against him that stretched back to 2001.

Foppoli, who resigned from office in May 2021, has denied the allegations brought by the seven Jane Doe plaintiffs in a weekslong-trial that now rests with the jury.

Hopkins said she has been following the trial, describing the case’s emerging details as “one slap in the face and gut punch after another.”

She cited court proceedings about the joking reference made in an 2019 newsletter for local Active 20-30 members about a Foppoli family property in Italy, referred to in the newsletter as “a rape castle.”

In her post, she also alluded to testimony by Santa Rosa Vice Mayor Jeff Okrepkie, who said Foppoli showed him footage of sexual activity involving one of Foppoli’s then-colleagues on the Windsor Town Council, who is Jane Doe 7 in the case. Doe 7 alleges she was assaulted by an unnamed individual at the Foppoli family’s Christopher Creek Winery and Foppoli used the footage to blackmail her into ending her political career.

“Knowing this was someone who was moving up the echelons of government and people knew about this and they said nothing and they did nothing,” Hopkins said. “What he (Foppoli) did and what he said about women, it’s been really hard to read.”

In her post, Hopkins thanked the plaintiffs for demanding justice and noted the abuse women receive often extends beyond what is made public. She described being called sexist slurs and getting unsolicited messages with graphic descriptions of her body as well that of another female member of the board.

The children of Hopkins, Hermosillo and Supervisor James Gore have also been targets of public hate speech.

Hopkins tied the rise in hate speech to the White House and President Trump’s infamous affinity for name calling and derisive comments about women he dislikes.

She cited a 2024 Brennan Center for Justice report on the abuse experienced by state legislators and local officeholders, which found that women are more likely than men to experience gender-based abuse and sexual abuse. The report also found that elected officials of color are more likely than white elected officials to experience race-based abuse, and that women and people of color in local office were more likely to experience abuse targeting their families than other office holders. The report used data sets representing 1,700 officials from all 50 states.

Hopkins said she took to Facebook to call out such abuse after noticing a lack of men in public life stepping up to denounce such behavior.

“It would be really nice to have some allies, some men calling this out and taking action and standing up for their colleagues who are being subject to racist, sexist attacks, like we’ve seen against the chair of our Board of Supervisors,” she said.

At one of the board’s August meetings, public speakers who delivered remarks virtually and off camera — enjoying a degree of anonymity not afforded to the members of the public who share their remarks in person — called Hermosillo a slur and a “junkyard dog.”

Hopkins, the only other woman on the board, was quick to lambast the comments during that same meeting.

Hermosillo addressed the hate speech a few days later on Facebook, thanking Hopkins for her support and urging community members to ask their state representatives for stronger guardrails on the new hybrid meeting requirements.

“I don’t normally respond knee-jerk. It was weighing heavy on me,” Hermosillo said in an interview. “It took a few days. I don’t want it to be a pity party, it was a call to action.”

Hermosillo said she has spoken with a few elected officials in other counties about how to handle discriminatory language, but it remains to be seen whether their request for help will gain traction at the state level.

In the meantime, the board has worked to create as stringent a public comment policy as possible, cautioning speakers that any use of racist or derogatory language will result in being cut off and forfeiting any remaining time.

It is not a new problem, or one unique to Sonoma County. A rash of Zoom bombers and hatemongers disrupted many local government meetings during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“During the pandemic we heard directly from constituents who were essentially intimidated out of making comment as a result of that toxic hate speech,” Hopkins said. “So you also end up silencing voices when you allow that level of toxicity in public discourse.”

Hermosillo has long talked about the need to establish better pathways in Sonoma County for people interested in politics, especially BIPOC candidates, to pursue elected office. She views the push to strengthen public comment safeguards as one way help.

Looking ahead, Hermosillo and Hopkins find hope in the fact that another woman of color will soon join them out of the runoff for the 2nd District seat.

“They’re both damn good human beings and dedicated public servants,” Hopkins said of Paun and Lemus. “We’re very very lucky to have that and knowing that no matter what happens we’re going to end up with a female majority on the Board of Supervisors is fun.”