Library Guy makes an impression

Happy Monday! Let’s start the week with one of my least favorite subjects:

Library Guy.
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John “Library Guy” Labriola is rousting his band of mighty minions to attend Tuesday morning’s meeting of the Library Advisory Board.

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Which means, of course, he’s up to no good.

Library Guy is making quite a career in Florida with his backward approach to life. As hired lackey for something called the Christian Family Coalition Florida, Labriola is showing up at school board meetings across the state, where the local media refers to him as a Citrus County “activist.”

I wrote a Chronicle column in September that said the Library Guy Gang, a batch of misfits who seek only to disrupt, had so far found little traction in its attempts to fool commissioners.

That changed in January when the board, led by Library Guy Gang champion Commissioner Diana Finegan, removed two volunteer members for no reason whatsoever.

None. Got it? None. I could say politics, but even politics can’t be blamed when commissioners cave to the lower interests.

This is what Finegan had the GALL to say about the two members she wanted replaced: “We need to stay out of the fray.”

Has she attended any of these meetings? Does she not see the bullying and intimidation on display by Library Guy and his pals? 

The library board’s makeup has changed significantly in the last two years. Most people wouldn’t notice because the library board exists in relative anonymity in most universes.

Three new members have joined since January. That rolls right into the trouble-makers’ playbook: Get new members installed on a board, and confuse them to support your agenda.

Library Guy wants policy changes. I started to write about it, but why bother? The details are not as significant as the fact that once again, this South Florida carpetbagger is pushing his backward views on Citrus County.

A few other thoughts:

— Library Guy desperately wants to be relevant. I checked out a Facebook page where he’s alerting followers to Tuesday’s meeting. The post was two days old and not a single reaction.

— Ironically, though, he seems to have traction in other places. I saw photos and videos of our hero dressed to the nines appearing before school boards with the same drivel that he dishes out here. People in those places only see this spokesman for an organization with “Christian” in the title and figure he’s some sort of expert.

You gotta know that nice-young-man syndrome works very well for Library Guy. When he says we need a policy to stop Drag Queen Story Hour in our libraries, by golly we need it! Except…that doesn’t actually, you know, exist in the Citrus County Libraries and never has. He made the whole thing up. The fact that he easily manipulates well-meaning citizens into believing such a horrible lie about our libraries shows the man has no common decency.

— Library Guy has appeared before legislative committees to support various bills aimed at mashing down people who are different than he is. Here’s a great story about one such day of testimony, and you need to watch the X (Twitter) video at the bottom. It’s an instant classic.

— I’m often reluctant to write about this subject. It’s always made me uncomfortable, even at the start, because I know troublemakers crave attention. How do we make sure citizens know of such an underhanded front taking place without giving that movement any space to breathe? 

I say it’s better to stay out in front. The way to ruin a bully’s joke is to blurt out the punchline before he gets there. That’s sort of what Just Wright Citrus is doing. We don’t want any surprises.

— Finally, one fun thing. “Library Guy” is now a household name in Citrus County. It originated in this space; someone is selling Library Guy T-shirts (unrelated to JWC) and even the Chronicle editor used Library Guy as a reference in a column last week.

Citrus County citizens are on top of it. I’m not hearing a thing about libraries from the candidates. 

Library Guy is grasping at straws. The disruption movement isn’t going his way.

Good news for the rest of us.

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