It wasn’t the first time that Grosse Pointe Shores Councilman Matthew Seely raised a ruckus on Facebook.

Seely was already known for posting memes with shock value in support of his conservative politics.

Last year, Seely, 55 and married with children, posted an image that critics say belittled women during the contentious debate to confirm U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Seely showed one woman consoling another, and the words: "I'm so sorry that bad man touched you inappropriately. Let's wait 30 or 40 years...until he runs for office....against a Democrat."

Last week, he was back at it with a post that said four of Washington’s Congresswomen of color — known as "the Squad" and including U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Detroit Democrat — are “the proof we have forgotten” about the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. He posted those words under a picture of the Twin Towers aflame at the World Trade Center, just as the nation mourned the historic loss of life to Muslim extremists.

Critics lashed out. But the councilman — backed by Grosse Pointe Shores' mayor and others on the City Council — said he's entitled to express political views on his private Facebook group, which he said had been accessed by liberals seeking to discredit him.

City officials said dozens of callers complained to City Hall about Seely's latest post, and two people showed up at last week’s council meeting to confront him and vent their outrage. First to speak during the public comment session was Susan Wolfe of neighboring Grosse Pointe Woods.

"I'm here as a sexual-assault survivor incredibly disturbed to see the posts last year, and as a person with Muslim friends and black friends and Latina friends who finds it incredibly offensive to see somebody in leadership here. . . equate a black woman, a Latina woman and two Muslim women — one of whom is a member of our Detroit community — with the terrorists who took down the World Trade Center," said Wolfe, 35, who had her young son in tow.

"What's going to be done about it?" she said.

Mayor Ted Kedzierski replied, "You know, we're volunteer city elected officials, and so what's said privately..."

But Wolfe interrupted.

"It's not private...It's shared across the United States (and) it's about Rashida Tlaib, right?"

Kedzierski said, "That's correct."

Wolfe went on to say that Grosse Pointe Shores is known "for being largely white, largely bigoted and largely uncaring for marginal communities (and) this is not helping that reputation."

A second critic, Rose Flaherty, said she felt that Seely's posts "bring shame" on the city. An ethics code at City Hall should be brought to bear against Seely, said Flaherty, 67, who lives in Grosse Pointe Shores.

A day after the meeting, the Grosse Pointe Democratic Club's executive board voted "to condemn the Facebook comments" of Seely, and a news release said that "shortly thereafter" the Grosse Pointes and Harper Woods Branch of the NAACP "signed on to this measure."

Grosse Pointe Shores officials, including the mayor, told the two visitors to the council meeting "thanks for coming" to share their views. But they also said there would be no action taken against Seely for venting what they considered to be his private views, privately expressed, and unconnected with city business.

Seely echoed that in an interview a few days later at the factory he owns in Detroit, where his 10 employees churn out metal fasteners for automotive and military applications. Seely insisted that nothing he posted represents the city he serves, as one of five non-partisan council members who volunteer their time.

"I don't know how we got to the point in this country that an elected official gives up their First Amendment rights. I love my community. What I do on the council has nothing to do with my politics," he said.

He said his Facebook group has about 4,000 members and that "you've got to ask to become a member (but) some people went out of their way to get into this closed group" to try to embarrass him.

Seely said that his style of Facebook communication aims to provoke discussion and sharpen debate on issues for which political correctness has overtaken traditional American values. A vigorous supporter of President Donald Trump, Seely said he joined the Trump campaign early on, at a time when "my business was really struggling." He said no other recent president or candidate, "from either party," had addressed the devastation of U.S. manufacturing.

Now, under Trump, "I'm seeing a real difference," with more military spending, more protection from foreign steel and more cash flow thanks to the Trump tax cut, he said. Seely said he's proud he was invited to the White House in June to celebrate the six-month anniversary of the tax cut.

His critics are those he said he expects would object to his political views. He said he’d heard objections from only a few constituents in Grosse Pointe Shores. Seely said he’d explained to friends that he had not intended to attack sexual assault survivors last year, and was not aiming to denigrate Muslims, blacks or Latinos in his meme on 9/11 terrorism.

"The people who hit the towers had absolute contempt for American values, our way of life and our support for Israel," he said.

Regarding Tlaib and the others in "the Squad" of four Congresswomen whom he called out in his meme, "they also have contempt for our values and for Israel," he charged. The four have been widely assailed for comments deemed anti-Semitic.

Seely said he has a daughter, Allie, 26, a dental hygienist; and a son, Anthony, 24, in his second year at Wayne State University Medical School and director of WSU's Street Med program that treats homeless Detroiters.

"They both chose careers that help other people," he said.

Seely's excitement over Donald Trump's campaign in 2015 prompted him to open a Trump for President office in St. Clair Shores, he said. Referring to the edge that Macomb County's formerly Democratic voters gave Trump in 2016, Seely said: "We flipped Macomb and we'll try to flip it again" in 2020."

Despite critics' outrage, Seely said he had no plans to back off on his provocative Facebook posts.

Contact: blaitner@freepress.com