The Haines Borough Assembly met as a committee-of-the-whole Tuesday to select manager finalists from a pool of 10 candidates picked by hired headhunting firm Brimeyer Fursman, but it’s not clear the firm’s research included checking social media.
The assembly chose to bring four candidates to Haines for in-person interviews, including Dennis Koenig, city administrator for La Jara, Colo. Koenig also owned and managed Koenig Construction in Meeker, Colo., from 1997 to 2011.
Koenig’s Facebook profile – which corroborates information on his resume, including his educational history – is rife with politically-charged and crude posts, including a photo of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson with the tag “Calling these two guys ‘reverend’ is like calling dogsh*t Tootsie Rolls.”
Other shared posts included:
• A picture of six buxom women in bikinis sporting the Swedish flag: “All those in favor of bringing Swedish women as refugees to our countries, instead of Islamic groups, like and share!”
• “If you ever feel stupid… Just remember, there are people who actually think Hillary Clinton would be a good president.”
• “March is national Stop Blaming White People Month! Accept responsibility for your own bad choices. Hug a white person.”
• “Over 620,000 white people died to free black slaves and still to this day not even one thank you.”
In his “About Me” section, Koenig wrote, “retirement job is town manager of La Jara, Co. no pressure and lovin it.”
Richard Fursman, of executive search firm Brimeyer Fursman, offered this analysis of Koenig:
“Dennis believes in doing everything the right way and his preoccupation with perfection makes him sensitive to errors or unfairness. He is adept at homing in on the essence of complicated, confusing situations. Work that doesn’t involve intellectual stretch and the opportunity for mastery may soon become drudgery for him.”
Notified of the Facebook posts, assembly member Ron Jackson said they were valuable to know about.
“You can look really good on a resume but have attitudes and beliefs that are a problem. Personality and core beliefs don’t always come out on a resume,” Jackson said.