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Letter to the Editor: Tom Elfers challenges elected officials to consider key questions


Last November in Kenton County, 30,000 people voted against Donald Trump – and countless others, unfortunately, stayed home.

But as one outrageous day leads to the next embarrassing week, more and more Kenton Countians are coming to the realization that our nation elected an unqualified, undignified, unprepared reality show host to lead this country.

You know it; I know it; tens of thousands of our neighbors also know that the Republic Party made a huge mistake by putting their party’s electoral success above the welfare of our nation.

And yet even now, as Mr. Trump continues to teeter-totter from one disastrous position to the next, our local leaders from the Republic Party remain quiet – refusing to publicly denounce or dispute the many ridiculous and even dangerous things that their party’s elected leader does and says.

Does Republican State Representative Diane St. Onge approve of all the disparaging remarks that Mr. Trump has made about women?

Does our Republican Sheriff Korzenborn agree that Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of contempt of court for defying a lawful order of a Federal District Judge, should have been pardoned – even before he was sentenced?

Does our Republican Congressman Thomas Massie believe that there were “fine people” among the mob that marched with torches in Charlottesville?

Does Republican State Representative Kim Moser agree with Mr. Trump, that building a wall will end the opioid crisis that is killing so many of our fellow citizens?

Tom Elfers

How about Republican Representative Adam Koenig – what does he think about Trump’s decision to allow employers to drop birth control coverage for their employees?

Do our Republican County Commissioners agree with Governor Bevin’s plan to address Kentucky’s pension crisis by attacking teachers and reducing retirement benefits for government workers?

As the newly-elected leader of Kenton County’s Democratic Party, I’m proud to speak for my fellow Democrats in saying that our answer to each of these questions is a resounding, “NO”.

And to be clear: it doesn’t take any courage on my part to state this publicly; no rational person believes that Nazis are “fine people”, that a Sheriff should be encouraged to defy court orders, or that an imaginary wall is going to make our country any more secure.

Why, then, can’t our elected Republican officials say this publicly?

Perhaps it’s because there are no local elections this year, and they are hoping that the voters will forget their current outrage by the time the 2018 election comes around.
Maybe it’s because they think that our President will eventually grow up, and things will be less outrageous by next November.

Or maybe they just believe that the voters of Kenton County are so blindly beholden to the GOP that they’ll vote for any republican candidate, regardless of their positions or beliefs.

Tip O’Neill once famously said that “All politics is local.”

I believe this is true – and I believe that the voters of Kenton County will have a chance to prove this when they go to the polls next November.

If you’re outraged by what Mr. Trump is doing, then you should probably be outraged that your elected officials won’t denounce him.

Tom Elfers
Edgewood


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4 Comments

  1. Marv Dunn says:

    Legislative leaders need a “come to Jesus” meeting with Trump like they did with Nixon; hopefully he will see the light and resign. Tillerson, like many other appointees, certainly was not qualified for his cabinet post but I think he is trying. Hopefully he along with the generals can keep 45 under control enough to keep us out of war. Mr. Elfers, you and other northern Kentucky party chairmen should be trying to find a good candidate to go up against Massie. We need a replacement there real bad.

  2. Tocs Law says:

    Clinton Global Initiative?
    Wasserman Schultz laptop?
    Russian collusion uranium deal?

    Happy to see the Kenton County Dems in such capable hands … ha ha ha

  3. Ron Turner says:

    The Democrats lost Kenton County by a landslide in a DOZEN races. Over and over and over again, loss after loss after loss. They’re pretty much laughingstocks at this point. But instead of trying to rebuild the party and focus on the issues that folks actually care about it looks like they’re just going to mindlessly read cue cards and continue to be hopelessly irrelevant.

  4. David Cannon says:

    You call out officials and ask them to agree or disagree with an entire administration based off of small pieces of larger agendas and then I am sure would be offended if someone asked the same of you. You cannot know a book from a single word. You talk about his remarks against women, but what about Hillary Clinton harassing women into silence, who accused her husband of sexual harassment. You condemn Arpaio’s actions, yet when mobs of citizens claiming to be fighting for civil rights destroy buildings and burn cars you wrongfully call it civil disobedience.The protesters in Charlottesville, regardless of what side or what they are saying, have a right to say it. The issues with counter protest is they are not productive. All they do is try to silence another person’s voice. All sides can speak, regardless of the message. Claiming he has stated the Building of the wall to prevent the opioid epidemic is like claiming you eat fried chicken because you need the protein, yes it’s a factor but come on, recognize the real reasons for it and try to focus on those. Allowing employers to drop birth control has long been a debate among religious freedoms and you know that. There are companies that will take advantage, then help to find a better way to allow those religious freedoms to be expressed.The pension crisis, i actually agree on. I just figured since you speak for your party, you can answer for them as well. Another thing, if you honestly believe that politicians see anyone as anything more than a tool to get elected and stay in their current position then you have missed out on a big red waving flag. You are nothing more than a number to them. Sure the newer ones have the best intentions, but we allow these people to become career politicians and the only people who lose are the citizens. Sorry for my poor grammar….

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