I have a couple of Republican friends who get all of Commissioner Robert Rowland’s email missives as the leader of the Elbert County Tea Party. They send them to me for some strange reason. Now before I move into my topic, let me be clear on something: Rowland deserves some credit for practicing his politics. He does not approach politics in the manner that I believe that it should be approached, you know, by researching facts, telling the truth and being transparent, but he does participate with fervor in his own way.
Back to Rowland’s most recent missive in which he attacks Jill Duvall and all of her ilk over at the Prairie Times. This following is the text of the letter:
I'm not going to waste a lot of time in responding to Jill Duvall's latest desperate attempt at being relevant here in Elbert County, but her ad in the Prairie Times warrants a rational response. Here she is in this latest edition forced into our mailboxes by the Editor controlled by the local radical wing of the Democratic Party running an ad that like most of their rhetoric is false and insulting to most clear thinking Elbert County citizens. She uses my picture and that of Colonel Chris Richardson, the Republican candidate for Elbert County Commissioner District 1 to claim if you elect this proven leader and Conservative that you are getting just another me. While I'm honored to be compared to Colonel Richardson in such a manner, her delusional latest garbage is not intended by these radicals to be a compliment.
I think it's time for all of Elbert County's voters, except for those far left followers of Duvall's to recognize this Democrat for exactly what she is, a disruptive, willing to say anything radical who has and will continue to cause disruption, wasted taxpayer dollars and confusion for as long as she is standing and able to spout her venom.
We all know Colonel Chris Richardson as the free thinking, dedicated, honest and proven Conservative he is, and we all know that he is beholding to no one, which makes these latest vicious lies all the more despicable. We are a county of conservative, patriotic citizens, and while we may differ at times, while we may get angry at each others views or approaches, we know that this group of HIllary/Bernie/Bennett supporters, these folks who oppose everything but their own out of touch radical leftist agenda, these folks who believe lies are justified if it fits the end game, are not what this county or any reasonably managed local government needs.
I say reject Democrat Jill Duvall and her campaign trash, reject the Prairie Times that has all but turned over it's content to this gang, let's move this county forward with responsible, honest and proven Conservatives, the Democrats have proven they are unworthy of our trust or out votes.
First of all, his entire letter is fraught with grammatical errors making it hard to to follow his reasoning with any preciseness. It has a number of erroneous assumptions in it, but as fortune would have it, and as a former public educator, I am here to help you with all of this. In the first sentence he says he is not going to waste your time responding to any of this before he responds to everything, real or imagined, in a paid political ad, which I have provided in this blog entry. Her “delusional attack” on Chris Richardson is to point out that that he represents the status quo, and a vote for him insures you will get more leadership that has been served up by the likes of the current sitting commissioner, Robert Rowland. No hyperbole. No ad hominem verbiage. Nope, this is just a simple opinion that states that it is her belief that Richardson does not represent change.
Mr. Rowland seems to be saying that he recognizes what people of all political persuasions are saying about him, and he wants none of that for his friend. I just do not see anything wrong with her statement, but apparently Mr. Rowland is feeling a bit chaffed at where his personal reputation has ended up after four years of contentious leadership. Paid ads are the lifeblood of any newspaper and coming from a man who says he was a leader at the Denver Post, his complaint about the Prairie Times is silly. Anyone who knows Mr. Bishop and his family know that they are conservatives. That the Prairie Times provides a place for citizens to air differing opinions than Rowland’s is laudable. If it was not something his readership wished to see, free market forces would have brought pressure to bear against the content. Instead, it appears that it has become very popular. The Bishops continue to keep the lights on thanks to the generosity of their advertisers.
Rowland states that Duvall is a disruptive radical who wastes taxpayer dollars. It is hard to imagine just what Mr. Rowland means when he uses the word “disruptive.” The synonyms for that descriptor are: troublesome, unruly, badly behaved, rowdy, disorderly, undisciplined and wild. I have spent countless hours in meetings with Mrs. Duvall. At no time have I ever seen disruptive behavior from her nor has she ever been escorted from a county meeting due to misconduct. She does irritate the crap out of commissioners who have no use for her point of view, but that hardly qualifies as disruption. Mrs. Duvall is always prepared with thoughtful research and she is well within her rights to question activities that appear to be in conflict with either state law, the will of the people, or both. Opposition may be viewed as inconvenient to those wishing to accomplish an unclear agenda, but it is the way our laws work. If she is breaking the law, then I suggest Mr. Rowland engage the legal resources at his disposal to halt this horrible and venomous behavior. However, as Mr. Rowland clearly knows, it is not okay to falsely accuse someone of breaking the law and then acting upon a false assertion.
Mr. Rowland suggests that Mrs. Duvall has wasted taxpayer money. Of course unless you were born yesterday after an unfortunate fall from the bed of a truck full of turnips you are aware that Mrs. Duvall has never sued the county nor have the members of the Elbert County Democratic Party. He affectionately refers to us as leftists “unworthy of our trust or votes.” No, the real expense to which he is referring is the taxpayer money that he himself has wasted trying to defend his own reputation using the highly expensive services of the so-called “county attorney” and to keep him from having to pay a $1000 fine levied on him by a judge. To my knowledge, the judge in question was not partisan, did not know Mrs. Duvall, had no beef with Robert Rowland, and would have been judged sane by a jury of his own peers. I believe Commissioner Rowland would be wise to just take out that sentence and move on to the next part of his diatribe.
Mr. Rowland wants us to believe that everyone knows Chris Richardson and his tried and true conservatism. The fact of the matter is that before this campaign, few people ever heard of him. He certainly was not at the meetings of the BOCC, the planning commission, or the water advisory board making his important conservative values known. This is not a slam on Mr. Richardson; he might be all of the things Robert Rowland states, but there is little history on which to judge these claims. There is nothing wrong with being new to the political scene, as is Democrat, Don Cherobe, but it is inappropriate to suggest that these two candidates do not need to bring us up to speed with their beliefs. I applaud them both for their personal service to our country, but that is not enough for many of us who want some substance to show us they are ready to take the helm of Elbert County. I applaud both the Prairie Times and the online Elbert County Citizens’ Page for trying to bring us the answers to the pressing questions of the day. Despite Mr. Rowland’s claim over the past few years, the audit shows us we are still sinking financially and we need to select leaders, not political monikers.
Jill Duvall, Chris Richardson, Danny Wilcox, Don Cherobee, Barbara Miller and Grant Thayer are all trying to become Elbert County Commissioners. It is hard work. They are trying to take the reins on a wagon that some might argue is running out of control. I have run for this office and it is no picnic. Can we all just listen to what the candidates have to tell us without all of the the name calling and personal attacks? Let’s try something different at the county level this year and be more disciplined than state and federal politicians. More discourse and less drama.
And one more thing, when you read a quote from a founding father on Mr. Rowland’s letters, be sure to take it with a grain of salt. Thomas Paine never wrote, “"The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” Simple fact checking at the following link to the Thomas Paine National Historical Association might have saved him some embarrassment.
http://thomaspaine.org/aboutpaine/did-paine-write-these-quotes.html
No comments:
Post a Comment