Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty demanded that a contractor remove a Thin Blue Line flag sticker from his truck while he was completing a job for the City. She called it a "deeply offensive" symbol of white supremacy that causes distress in the community. However, she soon realized that she had no authority to censor a private company's speech. In response, Hardesty blamed the contractor and suggested that opposition to Black Lives Matter equates to white supremacy. Despite her anti-police stance, she called 911 on a Lyft driver who canceled her ride due to her belligerent behavior, later blaming her fear of white supremacists. It is concerning that someone in a position of power is admitting to trying to find a way to circumvent constitutional rights to impose their own view.

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