Grassroots officials stand up for the law

 

Bill Knight column for 12-7, 8 or 9, 2020

 Last week was disturbing and inspiring, and lesser-known officials became the “Avengers” against dark forces and enablers.

First, President Trump’s (recently pardoned) ex-National Security adviser Michael Flynn shared a message encouraging Trump to “temporarily suspend the Constitution,” “declare a limited form of martial law,” and “silence the destructive media.”

Also, Trump made a 46-minute video making unproven or false allegations about voter fraud; Trump lawyer and conspiracy theorist Joseph diGenova said cybersecurity expert Chris Krebs (who Trump fired because Krebs said the election was smooth and fair) should be “taken out and shot”; and Georgia Republican Gabriel Sterling criticized such calls for violence – one of a growing number of conscientious grassroots Republicans who are standing up for the law.

“This is the backbone of democracy,” said Sterling, a state voting-system manager citing threats to Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and a 20-year-old tech in Gwinnett County.

“All of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this,” he added. “It’s too much.”

U.S. Rep. Denver Riggleman, a Virginia Republican ousted by a more conservative primary challenger in June, acknowledged other threats.

“We have been tagged and called ‘traitors’ based on our use of data analytics, facts and common sense,” he said. It’s “time for a GOP that represents the core of America, not the manic fringes.”

He described servile GOP leaders as those whose “career is more important than the facts. It’s that simple.”

It’s not just Republicans. State Rep. Kathleen Willis, an Addison Democrat, also showed courage, announcing her opposition to Illinois’ Mike Madigan’s bid to retain his Speaker post.

State and local officials taking principled positions despite more prominent figures staying silent is outstanding. It’s not just because they’re defying bullies like Madigan and Trump, but that they’re bravely upholding the Constitution and laws, decency and democracy.

Madigan, 78, head of the Illinois Democratic Party for 22 years, has been Speaker since 1983 (except for 1995-97, when Republicans were the majority). Although he’s not been charged with a crime, he was implicated in alleged bribery that saw ComEd reportedly send $1.3 million to Madigan’s associates for doing little or no work for the corporation, federal prosecutors say.

Willis wasn’t the first Democrat to stand against the power broker, Starting with State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, a Marine, there have been 19 Dems in Springfield’s House to oppose him. Since Madigan needs 60 votes to get reelected Speaker, that means he’s already several votes shy.

“We need to put the distraction that has been created by Rep. Madigan behind us and move forward in mending the State of Illinois,” Willis said.

Mending – Illinois or political parties or the nation – apparently will depend on such conscientious public servants who may be relatively unknown to most of us but are far more heroic than “leaders” who go along with outrage, if not outright illegalities.

GOP leaders like Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy seem to be spineless . Elsewhere in Washington, a few such as Nebraska’s Ben Sasse and Utah’s Mitt Romney have stepped up, along with Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

Kinzinger, a 42-year-old Air National Guard veteran, communicated to Trump: “STOP spreading debunked misinformation. This is getting insane.”

In Arizona, Republican Clint Hickman, chair of Maricopa County’s Board of Supervisors, said he also was “concerned about the misinformation,” and Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers defended the decision to have electors accurately reflect a majority of votes going to Joe Biden, saying, “I took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona.”

In Michigan, Sterling Heights Mayor Michael Taylor, a Republican, wrote that Trump “is deliberately lying to Americans … in order to create uncertainty, fear and distrust.”

Republican Aaron Van Langevelde, a 40-year-old member of Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers that resisted Trump’s call to delay certifying Biden’s victory there, said, “As John Adams once said, ‘We are a government of laws, not men’.”

All of these officials may not save the GOP or Illinois’ Democratic Party, but they’re helping to save the country.

Conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg, author of “Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics Is Destroying American Democracy,” recently blasted national Republican politicians who say they’re conservatives.

“Whereas [William F.] Buckley’s generation saw the party as a tool for conservative gains, today’s ambitious Republicans see conservatism as a malleable tool for personal and partisan gain.”