There once was a time when I argued that many county offices should be made non-partisan … with county clerks being among them.
Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Ky., clerk who’s been in the news lately has demonstrated that perhaps my earlier view was, well, not entirely correct.
Davis today switched from Democrat to Republican, saying that the Democratic Party left her long ago.
Why comment on this? Davis is the county clerk who said she couldn’t issue marriage licenses to gay couples. So, she quit issuing licenses to anyone. She refused to do the job she took an oath to do, which is serve the public and to obey the laws of the land. A federal judge found her in contempt of court, then tossed her into jail for a few days; the same judge released her and then former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — a GOP candidate for president — volunteered to go to jail in her place.
Oh, please.
The public include gay citizens. The laws of the land allows gay people to get married, just like straight people.
Davis said she is acting according to God’s will. God, she said, disapproves of gay marriage. Therefore, she is empowered to flout the oath she took.
Wrong, Ms. Davis.
You are not free to quit performing your job as long as you hold the title of “county clerk.”
With that, she joined the Republican Party. Does the GOP approve of elected public officials tossing aside their sworn oath?
Man, I hope not.
Oh well, if she feel more at home in the GOP, then that’s her call.
Just do your job, Mme. Clerk … or else quit.
