I THOUGHT WE DIDN’T BELIEVE IN THAT

 

In “Lord of the Flies” one of the younger boys responds to his brother’s fears about a monster by saying “I thought we didn’t believe in the monster”. 

But the master manipulator and hungry for power and control “Jack” in the novel has worked on their head and they submit to his will and are back believing in something that said they don’t belive in.

For over fifteen years local Republicans have thought the practice of renting vans and going around and picking up voters and visiting with them on the way to the polls was too coercive and possibly criminal if there is any quid pro quo. It has been condemned in so many local Republican meetings over the years, I can’t count them all.  

Add to the above mentioned practice by Democrats, the possible practice of them working with the county clerk to determine who to call to get more votes and after identifying those who  haven’t voted, calling them and picking them up and you have a system that Republicans in the past have felt was scandalous. 

As scandalous as we thought it was, some among the Jay Knight for County Judge campaign used some or all of those tactics to help secure their 25 vote victory. It is not only true, they have used the same Democrat coordinator. Connie Paintsil. And though I have to applaud Paintsil for doing such a good job, I doubt voters are real happy with this kind of five star hypocrisy.  

Paintsil was expected to be a Jay Knight supporter since County Judge McNair eliminated her job in the courthouse. A job many Republicans felt like was being used by Todd Fontenot to call and round up Democrats during the many elections and events during the year, rather work for the county as a whole. 

But lest someone thinks this is just an article crying about the results of the election, it is that and more. I will also be “crying” for any quid pro quo we see coming from this election. We can’t afford it. McNair had no patronage jobs and, especially, in a county that is cash strapped, the Knight administration should not either.

 

Note: Besides winning with tactics we had condemned for years, the Knight campaign won because they pursued the votes of people still proudly voting Democrat. People that want the county purses loosened. People that would be in favor of appraisal and taxing hikes. But there are other reasons Knight won besides these and the record low turnout and we may discuss them later.