Kim Davis will seek re-election.
What a coward; I hope not everyone in Rowan County is so disposed. The question now is “who will step up?”
One could be snarky and say that first, one must find someone who wants to live in Rowan County so they can run for office…but, actually, it is a nice spot and makes a good living off the college and the Interstate.
The thing is, there are almost 3 times as many registered D’s there than R’s. I suspect the D’s aren’t much of the ‘liberal’ variety, though.
Whoever is running has to acknowledge that the law is the law and that denying any American their rights based on your own religious beliefs is contrary to the Constitution of both the US and Kentucky.
Sure, the law says the Rowan County Clerk must live in Rowan County but what if my religious beliefs prohibit me from living in Kentucky? I feel I should be allowed to serve as Rowan County Clerk and collect my paycheck while living here in New York. I’m sure the people in Rowan County can figure out some alternative that accommodates my belief.
From my North Carolina base of operations, where I have formulated my policy regarding marriage, based on the rapid overpopulation of the planet, I have determined to be elected to every county clerk position in the USA where I will use my power to prevent marriage between men and women. Of course, if men and women agree to sterilization prior to marriage, they will be allowed marriage licenses. Any child born out of wedlock, of course, will be sent to the nearest hospital where they will be used for spare parts for those who can afford it.
Seriously, you abide by the law, or you resign your office. You just can’t make up or decide on your own which laws you will and will not observe.
Quite so. From JFK’s masterful 1960 speech on the separation of church and state: “…if the time should ever come — and I do not concede any conflict to be even remotely possible — when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the same.”
Is this the first county clerk election that may receive national attention?
Can I legally contribute to Ermold’s campaign?
That stupid job pays almost $80,000 a year!!! I’m not one that whines incessantly about overpaid and underworked government employees, but I’d certainly run for that office for that amount of salary. $80,000 would be a nice salary for a clerical job in Chicago, it seem exorbitant for a rural Kentucky county.
Ummm…being a County Clerk is a bit more than just a “clerical job”. It’s a supervisory position. Here in not-large Leon County, the County Clerk probably has in excess of 100 employees and a multi-million dollar budget.
just for a little surrealism in the world of County Clerks, Here is the latest story of one from the Detroit area.
Basically a pure nutcase “Gubmint is bad” type who lied and ran in a county she didn’t live in, and is trying to shut down government entirely by herself, by refusing to do any element of the job.
That woman is nuts. And this isn’t some podunk northern Michigan county-- it’s the third largest in the state! She’s essentially shut down the clerk’s office of the third most-populous county in Michigan by…literally doing nothing.
Reminds me of Melville’s classic American short story, Bartleby the Scrivener. Something deep in the American psyche going on here, one might posit.
Reminds me of Ron Swanson. Do you think she took Parks And Recreation for an actual documentary?
There’s increasingly an element of the right wing that believes in political nihilism, a kind of go in and just “break stuff” mentality. We absolutely see it in Trumpism, but we’re seeing it in people like Spranger as well. It used to be that Republicans were for limited government; now they’re for demolishing all institutions so that private institutions and local institutions can prevail and impose their own standards - usually standards that are inconsistent with humanity. The Bundy trials are another example: a rejection of the federal police power.
I’d be quite interested in knowing more about the responsibilities of the job. I lived in Leon County, Florida while attending FSU.
She’s drawn at least one opponent - and they’ve dealt with each other before: https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/12/06/gay-man-to-run-against-kentucky-clerk-who-denied-him-marriage-license/23299526/
That’s a bit of good news. I wish him well. Any idea if Mr. Ermold is set up to accept campaign donations yet?
I just hope Mike Pence isn’t involved.
I am sooo down.
Excellent. Thanks for the link.