When Timothy Bodnar apparently pushed a woman at an Augusta School Board meeting in June, he said he was protecting his personal property.

The incident prompted school department officials to do something they say they haven’t done before: bring a civil complaint seeking damages against Bodnar for his actions.

Bodnar, who goes by Truth Slinger online, is a conservative podcaster, activist and influencer with thousands of followers across platforms like X and Facebook. He has been a prominent and confrontational figure at rallies supporting the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the wake of the recent fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford.

Tim Bodnar, who goes by Truth Slinger X online, adjusts his tripod during a pro-ICE rally July 15 in front of the Maine State House at the corner of State and Capitol streets in Augusta. (Staff Photo)

The St. Albans resident has attended school board meetings around the state, in support of a number of issues, including President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender girls from participating on girls’ sports teams. Conservative activists like Bodnar argue school boards should comply with the order despite the protections provided in the Maine Human Rights Act.

But he won’t be doing any of that in Augusta for at least a year; he’s been served with no-trespass notice, banning him from setting foot on school properties.

“It’s just lawfare,” Bodnar said. “I’m not intimidated by anyone. I’m perfectly capable of defending myself in court by myself with artificial intelligence and my robust personality, and I’m just not scared of them.”

THE COMPLAINT

During public comment at the June 10 Augusta School Board meeting, Bodnar placed his phone on the podium and set it to play an AI-generated song targeting Jonathan Reynolds, an at-large school board member, accusing him of being a “woman beater.” Reynolds was not at the meeting.

Reynolds pleaded guilty to domestic violence assault in 2022; his charges were dismissed after he complied with certain conditions under a deferred dispostion.

Reynolds has said he has not tried to hide his past and has passed every background check necessary to sit on the board and hold other professional positions.

Bodnar’s interaction with the employee is captured on the school department’s video of the meeting.

Martha Witham, chairwoman of the school board, called for a point of order during the meeting and asked Bodnar to pause the song. Instead, he approached the livestream camera and held his phone in front of it, still playing the song. The song lyrics included “How you gonna put a woman beater on the school board” and “Augusta’s got a problem and his name is Jon Reynolds.”

After Bodnar placed the phone by the camera and returned to the podium, a school employee stood up and appeared to ask Bodnar to stop the song. As she began to walk in the direction of the livestream camera, Bodnar held his arm out, apparently pushed her backward, grabbed his phone and said, “Don’t touch my stuff. My time. That’s bullying me.”

Bodnar also pointed and yelled, “Where is he?” about Reynolds and, “You feel threatened by me? You got a woman beater over there.” Bodnar continued singing and shouting as he left the meeting.

Bodnar said in an interview with the Kennebec Journal that a police officer followed him out and informed him the school department might consider pressing charges.

He said he put his arm out because he did not want his phone to be taken or damaged.

“I mean, there was no offensive touching,” Bodnar said. “What happened was that she was the one that was aggressive. It’s not her job to control the speech or what’s going on and shut it down and say that’s enough.”

A week later, the school department filed a complaint in Kennebec County District Court, alleging that he assaulted the employee, and seeking damages.

The complaint states the school department is entitled to collect a forfeiture of not less than $200 nor more than $500 from Bodnar in accordance with a Maine statute that says a person who enters school grounds and engages in hostile, aggressive or threatening behaviors toward a student, teacher, administrator or other staff must pay that sum.

Bodnar said he was never served a copy of the complaint and did not know about it until he read it about it in the news.

Bodnar said he was also charged with assault after the meeting and issued a summons to appear in court in September. The Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said her office will decide in the meantime whether to file the complaint.

Superintendent Mike Tracy confirmed that the school department now has a year-long trespass order against Bodnar, barring him from school premises and school meetings. Tracy said he could not comment as it is an ongoing legal case.

Ten days after he was charged, Bodnar said he went to the police to try to file counter charges against the employee, who he alleges assaulted him instead. He said the police refused to open a case, instead saying they would add his information to the original assault case against him.

Eric Lloyd, a staff sergeant with the Augusta Police Department, said the counter charges were not accepted because Bodnar was the one who made the motion that made contact with the employee.

Assault is classified as “unwanted bodily contact,” and it cannot be assault on another person if that person created the contact, Lloyd said.

The school department’s lawyer for the case, Melissa Hewey with Drummond Woodsum, did not respond to several requests for comment.

UNREST IN AUGUSTA

This incident is just the latest in a series of provocative actions at Augusta School Board meetings, although disruptive behavior has taken place at school board meetings around the state.

In October, three people partially undressed in an Augusta Board of Education meeting to protest the school department’s Title IX policy. The action, organized by conservative activist and influencer Nicholas “Corn Pop” Blanchard, was intended to make the audience uncomfortable, saying it was similar to how students would feel around transgender students in a locker room.

At a March school board meeting in Augusta, attendees, including Blanchard and Bodnar, ate popcorn, held up signs demanding Witham resign, rolled around on the floor, threw accusations and uttered prayers to protest a variety of issues.

In July, Blanchard and other members of the public began to yell at the board when the board voted to censure Ward 3 board member James Orr for his conduct during the student walkout at Cony Middle and High School in April. Students were protesting school budget cuts.

At-large member April Damboise resigned after a year on the Augusta Board of Education in January over concerns that the board was discouraging people from giving public comment.

But Augusta is not alone. In Gardiner, for instance, school board meetings have been raucous, with a long, heated battle over a proposed health clinic at the high school. Board and community members who supported the clinic were harassed online and the topic prompted shouting matches and sign-waving during meetings.

In Augusta, there has been little reaction from parents.

Tracy, the superintendent, said the school department has not heard from parents either for or against Bodnar’s activity in meetings.

Bodnar does not have a direct connection to the Augusta School District, he does not have children who attend the schools and he is not an Augusta resident. He said he was inspired to add his voice and defend Blanchard, a fellow conservative activist and Augusta resident, after seeing him be repeatedly “shut down” at school board meetings.

“Where the capital goes, I believe the rest of the school boards would go,” Bodnar said. “Nothing ever really gets done. We slide just a little further on down the road for progressivism, and that’s the way it goes. That’s why I fight at the school level.”

Witham said she is disappointed with the behavior she has seen in the public comment periods of meetings recently.

“We had hoped that we could have more decorum that is appropriate for school board meetings, but we can’t control how and what the speakers choose to present,” Witham said. “They’re doing it to get hits on Facebook, and that’s unfortunate that we can’t spend more time on genuine educational matters.”

Bodnar says he plans to file a federal lawsuit against the Augusta School Department similar to a free speech lawsuit filed against the Augusta school department in January by Blanchard.

As a result of Blanchard’s lawsuit, the Augusta school board changed its public comment policy in May after a federal judge issued an injunction saying the board could not limit aspects of the public comment policy regarding gossip, or abusive or vulgar language.

Bodnar said the trespass order against him is just a means of preventing him from attending school board meetings because the board does not want to listen to him.

Witham said navigating disruptive behavior in the public comment period is difficult for the board.

“It’s disappointing that it’s the public comment agenda item that seems to cause the most problem,” Witham said. “That by statute it is defined as a limited public forum, and there are rules that apply. They have First Amendment right to their opinions, and the challenge is on their presentations of their opinions.”

Jan Murphy, a speech language pathologist at the Lillian P. Hussey Elementary School and the Maine Education Association representative for Augusta, said all educators deserve to feel safe at school board meetings.

“That includes being able to speak up about issues, programs, or opinions without being yelled at and ridiculed by those that disagree,” Murphy said.

No court date on the civil complaint has been set.