NORTH SMITHFIELD – First time candidate for the North Smithfield School Committee Evan Masse is facing backlash after a comment he made under a photo on X (formerly Twitter) became was widely shared Thursday night.
The comment, which has since been deleted, was made on a photo of Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz’s 17-year-old son, Gus Walz, who has a non-verbal learning disorder, crying as his father gave a speech at the Democratic Convention this week. Masse commented, “He got them brain worms.”
Although Masse hasn’t publicly dropped out of the race, he had at the time of publication removed his Evan Masse for School Committee page and his personal X account. Before doing so, he issued an apology on his political page.
“Last night I made an insensitive remark that hurt many people,” Masse wrote in response to a request for comment. “The remarks that I made do not reflect who I am or what I represent. Although at the time I did not realize that Mr. Gus Walz had a learning disorder, it still does not make it right. I want to apologize to anybody that I have offended. I may not be able to go back in time and change it but I can control what happens from here and will continue to apologize and learn from this.”
Masse, who serves as vice chairman of the North Smithfield Republican Town Committee, did not respond to questions about whether he will continue his candidacy.
Some in the community are calling for Masse to end his bid for the school committee.
“It’s the stunning ignorance of it,” said North Smithfield resident Christian de Rezendes, who has a son on the autism spectrum and who shared the screenshot on his personal page. “If he hadn’t been running for school committee I wouldn’t be so upset but the fact that he’s one of the candidates running, there’s no way in hell I am going to let it go. The only way is for him to withdraw.”
The chairperson of the North Smithfield Special Education Local Advisory Committee, Nicole Lavoie, shared the screenshot on her personal page and urged residents not to vote for Masse.
“I strongly recommend local friends to do their research and be sure you really know the person you are voting for this November,” she wrote in her post. “The last thing this town needs is a person like this involved in anything having to do with our children.”
Christopher Simpkins, also a candidate for School Committee, said the photo comment was “appalling.”
“I’m a dad. I have two kids, one at the high school and one at the middle school, and I want to make sure they feel safe and supported at school,” Simpkins said. “I don’t think anyone who is expressing these ideas should be holding that position.”
“I’m a candidate, but I’m also a voter,” Simpkins continued. “I think it’s really important to know who we are electing. As a parent, this type of rhetoric from a school committee candidate is really alarming.”
Simpkins did express regret for the response Masse is experiencing online.
“I feel awful about the response Evan is getting,” he said. “I’ll give anyone credit who runs, it’s not easy to do. I’ll give Evan props. He’s young and he showed a lack of judgment.”
Masse could use this incident as an opportunity to learn more about the community he wants to represent, de Rezendes said.
“The best thing that can happen is this could open a constructive dialogue between him and SELAC, and people in the community,” he said. “The only way through this is to say you made a colossal error and you need to back up and learn from it.”
Following initial publication of this story, Masse resigned from his position as secretary of the Rhode Island Young Republicans. On Monday, Chairman of the North Smithfield Republican Town Committee Brad Trenchard posted a statement about the incident on social media.
“Disability or not, the tweet was inappropriate and uncalled for,” noted Trenchard. “In a society where speaking ill of someone online is commonplace, the North Smithfield RTC does not condone or support any negative comments or insults, including the one from our vice chair.”
“Evan Masse is an incredibly bright young man who has done a lot for our committee,” continued Trenchard, who is also running for a seat on the school board. “Evan has already withdrawn from his position with the Rhode Island Young Republicans, and at this time I am unsure of his intentions moving forward in regard to his position with this committee, or his current bid for the local school committee. As the chairman, I have no intention of requesting his resignation. We all make mistakes and need to focus on solutions, and the solution would not be remove Evan from anything. Evan is a bright and talented young man and I hope he desires to keep his role within the RTC.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, Masse had not withdrawn his candidacy at the North Smithfield Town Clerk’s office.
Editor’s note: The above article has been edited to reflect the latest information.
Paul, I appreciate that thank you.
Richard, You’re the one mentioning torches and pitchforks. Unless you’re into that kinda fun, I did not have it in mind. Paul Refers to a dead fish. That’s the perfect analogy. Without getting too wordy, let’s recap all that I have requested:
1. That Masse suspend his campaign. I believe this is most reasonable, given the set of circumstances that we’ve already well established.
2. A comment from the NS Republican Committee announcing his comments, which have pretty much already come from the chair in the channel 12 article. So from my position, there’s no need to keep pushing there.
You say he’s 20 years old and made a mistake. We’ve all done that. He has apologized. I have accepted that. However, and here I go again… He’s running for the school committee. The school committee!!
I heard recently that he joined the HDC. If that’s true, good for him. Maybe he will learn something about his tree when he’s there. He’s clearly looking to get into community politics.
If he joined the sewer committee, I literally wouldn’t give a shit. Pun intended. because joining the sewer committee does not require him to make a decision regarding my son’s education.
So knock it off with your BS deflecting and hone in on where the responsibility needs to be placed. If you don’t have the maturity or life experience to know, better not to make that brain worms comment under a child with a special needs, then you have no business being anywhere close to a school committee. That’s not that hard to figure out.
You are no longer worth the font.
You’re welcome
Foolish or immature actions of one in their formative years should not affect them for a lifetime, they should be allowed to reflect, learn apologize and move on. Obama stands as shining example of that and I could name a few more.
Many a great man started out making mistakes early on in life and moved on to great things.
Reading the article and the comments, I’m left to look back at Ross Perot said during the 1992 campaign.
‘Ross Perot was known for his straightforward and often colorful commentary. One of the notable remarks he made regarding Bill Clinton involved a perspective on personal accountability, though the exact phrasing might differ slightly depending on the context or source of the quote.
Perot, when addressing Clinton’s past, particularly his avoidance of military service during the Vietnam War and other personal controversies, suggested that he wouldn’t hold Clinton accountable for what he did in his “formative years.” The essence of Perot’s statement was to imply that while he might not judge Clinton harshly for actions taken during his youth, the focus should be on Clinton’s current character, policies, and decisions as they pertain to his capability to lead the country.
Youthful Indiscretions: Perot’s comment can be seen as acknowledging that many people make mistakes in their youth, suggesting a level of forgiveness or understanding for actions not reflective of one’s current self (or in this case, future self.’
I agree with Richard, put down the torches and pitchforks…
I say this as a father of a disabled son on the spectrum. BTDT!
That’s (sort of) lovely, Jason, but I don’t think parents want their children exposed to this while this man still has so much to learn. And although everyone makes mistakes, you still have to pay for them. THAT is how you learn. He should not be on school committee, and frankly, from what I’ve read about this man, he is light years away from being ready for any public office.
I get that you feel the need to defend someone with your political leanings, but I am not cut from that cloth. If a liberal candidate messes up, they lose my support. It’s time more people stop with the relative morality.
Did I advocate for him to be on the school committee? I think not!
He’s got some maturing to do.
Conversely, I don’t think he should be run out of town by a mob either.
Frankly, young Mr Massee never had my support. If you look, I’ve never commented on him. He was off my radar immediately as too young for such a position.
I’ll add, I think it is commendable that at such a young age he is already engaging in politics and if I were his parent, I would have been proud of his ambitions. Sadly, he still has some growing up to do as most of us did at that age.
I don’t recall the author but this one quote comes to mind:
“Mistakes are a fact of life and it’s the response to error that counts.”
I’m not sure who’s running him out of town? It would be nice if he decided to make an actual apology though. What he did release was at best awful and at worst AI. It was a qualified apology when there was zero reason to qualify it. So you are fine picking on a 17 year old supporting his Dad but not a neurodivergent 17 year old? Got it. Zero credit. Read the assignment.
I don’t think this should affect him for a life time. We are meant to learn from our mistakes. I don’t even know if I think he needs to step down but I do think it is good that we all saw this before casting our votes. It felt like he had two online personas, one on his campaign Facebook page and when he was responding to questions online, and another on X(twitter). Something didn’t add up. It didn’t sound like the same person. I felt a little duped. I also don’t see holding someone accountable is pitchforks and torches. The reaction was very much shock. At least for me. I think we can agree we need to be extremely mindful of who we put at such a high level position when so many decisions involve our children. Perhaps he just needs a little more time and patience and support in order to achieve his goal in politics. I truly wish him well.
Well said!
Completely agree Jen, holding accountable is NOT pitchforks and torches at all.
I do hope he uses this as a learning opportunity to grow into a more inclusive, kind, and empathetic person. His apology was qualified at best, written by AI at worst. There was no reason to make fun of ANY son showing support and love publicly for his father.
Be a good human, it costs nothing.
Agreed Jen!!
Thanks Paul, I went back to read my comments. The comment to which you replied did not mention Trump one time. I did mention Trump in my first comment but not meant as a red herring but rather hoping he would stop and consider what he is proposing for the young man. My comment about Obama and Jesus are much more the center of my argument.
Amen Richard!! Mic drop.
My perspective is this type of rhetoric becomes more pronounced when society deems it perfectly acceptable to displays “F—- someone” signs on their vehicles,homes,front yards,clothing,etc. for all the world to see.What year did this become acceptable? Free speech is Not a flag to hide behind when you’re influencing young people with your individual beliefs and offending others with your rudeness.Our parents would NEVER have understood the lack of respect for others!
I don’t care which side of the fence you are on, if you have “F…” anything displayed publicly, I assume you are an uneducated person with whom I never wish to interact.
Dang, I need to look that up in zoning! That language is NOT serving in the heath and welfare of the community. But back on this subject at hand.
Christian and many parents like him are so special. When I saw that picture, I cried. I said exactly that when my dad won for Administrator. I felt this 17 yr olds profound love and respect. I’m sorry Mr Masse. You need to learn a lot more. People are watching everywhere. People don’t forget. Political suicide
Anyone making fun of a person being proud of their father doesn’t have the maturity and judgement to run for School Comitee. It doesn’t matter if the target has special needs or is a minor, but it does make it MUCH WORSE.
Thank you!
The relative morality of the people defending this guy is unbelievable.
He needs to grow up, he is not ready for office, these facts will not affect his whole life (and with some horrible people, they may celebrate the terrible thing he wrote—he will probably profit from this, with the crazy, tacky, moral-free political climate we have now).
Everyone is acting like this “poor kid” is getting canceled, and that is insane. You make a mistake (and what an incredibly, monumentally STUPID mistake to make) and you pay for it.
Evan’s comments were very inappropriate, however, he does not have the requisite background that I would expect a candidate for this position to have.
I completely agree that Evan Masse did permanent damage to his political career before it could even get off the ground.
I would also like to point out that Mr Rezendes has a strong political perspective and often posts what I consider to be biased and angry posts about the right, especially Trump. One of his posts even included poop emojis as a background criticizing project 2025 liking it to Nazi propaganda.
I have no doubt of his moral outrage, but I draw the line at not being satisfied until the young man withdraws from the race. Really, why should that make a difference. Vote for or against who you want and complain all you want but to place demands for his personal satisfaction across the line. I know this is going to be really popular
Something tells me you have a pretty strong political perspective as well.
That is correct, but I tend to call out hypocrisy on both sides.
Rezendes, who isnt running for anything, posted that he thinks Trump and Project 2025 are being fascists. Masse, while running for the school board, makes fun of a kid with special needs.
Trying to make those two things equivalent is pretty weird.
Mr. Grubb,
With all due respect, I am suggesting Masse withdraw, because he does not have the life experience or maturity required to make good judgements on our school committee. This is clearly evident from his post about a special needs teenager.
Yes, I am anti-Trump, but my ONLY motivation for saying that Masse should step down is due to insensitive and ignorant nature of his post. I do not possess the fortitude to state that others who do not align with my political views not run for office simply based on a difference of opinion. I can think of plenty of other candidates in town whose ideology does not jive with mine, but none of them to date have bashed kids with special needs on social media while they actively run for a seat where they can, if elected, vote for plans that may affect the types of kids they have already bashed. Does that make sense?
For example, David De La Cruz is running for a SC seat. While my views may not align with his politically, religiously or otherwise, he has the maturity and life experience to communicate with sensitivity and professionalism. He would never post what Evan did, because he has the years and experience of being a parent to know that is wrong.
I have also stated that if a candidate on the far left had done the same thing, I would be demanding the same exact thing from that candidate and the NS Democratic Committee in town.
From the NS Republican Committee, we need to see accountability and responsibility. Masse is Vice-Chair. The apology I read (before it was removed with all of his social media) was a good first step. Understanding that you have exhibited immature and cruel behavior toward neurodivergent kids deeply concerns parents of special needs kids (and others) in this town and that you should withdraw your campaign as a result of that, is another. It would be wise for Mr. Masse to withdraw, as it would show thoughtfulness and understanding.
At the same time, the NSRC should also show leadership in publicly denouncing the nature of his post, which could in turn show that the needs of our children come first and well ahead of politics.
That’s the difference. There are two different matters. I hope I’ve addressed your concern.
Thank you,
Christian
I read your comment carefully and was tempted to respond immediately, but I don’t think it’s fair to hijack sandy’s article for personal rants and philosophical ramblings, especially on her birthday. Happy birthday Sandy.
So my first impression Christian is that I try to keep my comments shorter than the original article. Two, where you see self righteous indignation I see in community mob replete with torches and pitchforks beating a young man into the ground in an effort to reinforce their own moral superiority.
He apologized and you want him to withdraw. On top of that you want the Republican party to remove him from his position in the party. So where do you draw the line? Should Evan be prohibited from all future attempts at public office? How long should he be forced to wear a Scarlet letter?
I’m just curious, back in 2009 when Barack Obama made a joke about his bowling skills equating them to the special Olympics, there was plenty of consternation about the statement especially from the liberals in Massachusetts. Do you recall or did you recommend he step fown from office since he is much older than Evan and definitely should have known better?
You know there’s a reason the crowd dispersed when Jesus suggested he who is without guilt cast the first stone. Whether you believe in Christianity or not the story represents an effective truth. Our society has lost touch with that.
Hi Richard — I’ve been very impressed with your well-reasoned arguments in the past but you’ve really missed the mark here. There’s an old adage about a man who wanted to distract from an uncomfortable conversation, so he threw a dead fish on a table; now, the conversation is about the dead fish and not about the actual issue at hand.
Going after Christian about his feelings toward Trump is your dead fish. The issue at hand is Evan Masse, and how Masse’s conduct can be informative when we’re considering what type of representative he’d be on the School Committee. Christian has some legitimate, personal reasons for being upset at Evan, and scared of the type of representative he’d be.
He’s not the only one. I am furious at Masse. I have people like Gus Walz among my friends and family, some of them school aged, and it is not outside the realm of reason to question whether or not he’d be a compassionate, competent, or even fair representative for those friends and family.
I’ve heard similar sentiments from conservative and independent neighbors and friends in North Smithfield; this isn’t a liberal vs. conservative issue, but Masse IS a public and vocal member of the NSRTC, so I can’t blame Christian for calling them out for their silence. Christian is a man of integrity, and I know for sure if someone on the NSDTC made a similar comment he’d be just as vocal and just as angry — and he’d be right to be! Decency, kindness, compassion … these aren’t Democratic or Republican virtues, they’re human virtues. It’s not wrong for Christian – or any of us – to demand that basic humanity from anyone representing us at any level of government, no matter what political party or leaning you may have.
Thank you Paul!! I guess my big response made it to the top of the pile.