By JIMMY LAWTON

CANTON -- Democratic candidate for St. Lawrence County District Attorney Jim Monroe says he doesn’t recall insulting Jesus or calling President Donald J. Trump a fascist on Facebook, but says he accepts full responsibility for the action.

The Facebook post in question appeared on former Canton resident Valerie Ann Viers-DeMaio’s Facebook page the day after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the presidential election. DeMaio, who supported Trump in the race, said she was shocked by the win.

The post allegedly written by Monroe says, “Trump is a fascist and there is no god. Sorry your jesus is just a flaky imaginary piece of shit.”

“To date, I’ve not been able to locate that comment among my Facebook postings. But even without being able to specifically confirm that I wrote it, I’m going to take responsibility for it. I want to apologize to anyone who was offended by it,” Monroe said at a Monday morning press conference in Canton.

“I’ve been provided the election night thread from which this posting was taken. The main thread, which hasn’t been mentioned by the press, was full of profanity-laced, vulgar insults, hurled at my sister. That, together with my outrage at an election campaign which had been marked by misogyny, racism, attacks on the disabled and other blatant forms of disrespect, led me to react fiercely, when someone had the audacity to claim that “Jesus delivered the election to Trump,” Monroe said at the press conference.

“I cannot tolerate the use of any religious faith to justify the persecution of other people. I fully respect each person’s right to practice the faith of his or her choice. Matters of faith are deeply personal. To my way of thinking, God commands us to be compassionate, tolerant and understanding, to love our neighbor and treat others as we want to be treated.”

The post surfaced little more than a week before the Nov. 7 election in which Monroe and former Franklin County Chief Assistant District Gary Pasqua are competing for the post held by DA Mary Rain. See story here for more on the post.

Monroe says his team has been running a “good clean campaign” in the DA race.

“Suddenly, in late October, we have this year-old Facebook posting to distract from the real issues and to bolster my opponents failing campaign. With just days before voters go to the polls, we need complete focus on the differences between what my opponent and I offer as District Attorney,” Monroe said.

Monroe then went on to tout his experience and qualifications.

“I have more than 25 years experience as an attorney, more than twice my opponent,” he said.

Monroe said he believes the voters will make the right choice on Election Day and is hopeful that the conversation moves away from Facebook posts and toward real issues.

“Lets move on to the real issues. That’s what the people of St. Lawrence County deserve,” he said.