(H/t R. Neal and Mello. For background, see Parts 1, 2, 2.5, 3, and 3.5 on this story)
So last night, some friends of embattled Judge W. Dale Young held a rally to support him. And believe me, it was NOT a partisan event!
Before the gathering was called to order, Blount County Republican Party Chairman Dave Bennett — who is also the Blount County finance director — said the meeting was called so that Young could know people in the community supported him.
“I think he’s doing an absolutely wonderful job and I’m here in support of him,” Bennett said.
According to Bennett, the room at the Blount County Library where the meeting took place was paid for by the Blount County Republican Party, but that beyond that the two groups had nothing to do with each other. Bennett, as most other’s did, said he was attending the meeting not as an official, but as a private citizen.
But all that is circumstantial, it still wasn't a partisan event! Republican Blount County Mayor Jerry Cunningham, addressing the Ana Calixto situation:
“Now the liberal left, they don’t like you using those words,” the former U.S. Attorney added. “It’s supposed to be undocumented, or whatever the devil is politically correct, but if they ain’t legal, they ain’t legal.”
Nope, not partisan at all.
Never mind the fact that Mayor Cunningham's characterization of Ana Calixto as an illegal immigrant is, in fact, incorrect. According to the Daily Times from a month ago, her employment authorization doesn't expire until January of 2009. Which ever so slightly undermines that argument. If she has a valid employment authorization, then the status of her green card is irrelevant. Numerous legal experts have weighed in, stating that regardless of her immigration status, she has the right to due process in the American court system in matters like this.
But of course, the only ones who are making an issue of this are those nasty partisan bloggers:
“Judge Young’s not only been attacked by the unfair reporting, he’s been attacked by some of these bloggers,” he said. “And the bloggers that do the attacking — if you ever have time to look at that trash — are always anonymous.
But as R. Neal points out, most of the bloggers reporting to this are not entirely anonymous. I'm not, I've given away enough information about myself on this blog that it wouldn't be too difficult to figure it out if you really wanted to.
And then there's this:
Because Calixto did not claim she had been physically abused, or been subject to threats of physical abuse by her husband, she did not meet the criteria to receive a protective order, and that’s why Young dismissed the request, Cunningham said.
Because remember folks, it's not abuse if it wasn't physical, just stalking and harrassment. Sort of like how it's not rape if she was too drunk to say "no".
2 comments:
Great post! I wanted to point out that the Judge didn't just dismiss her request for an Order of Protection - he also failed to rule on the matter of the divorce itself. (They were rolled into the same court appearance.) So Cunningham's insistence that she didn't meet the criteria for an Order of Protection is just an effort to obscure that rather glaring detail. And the stated reason was that she was "illegal."
Listen to the audio on the Daily Times website. "sherry" is a reporter from a different newspaper. A paper that the Mayor appears now to favor.
And the ending references to the judge being the one to fold all these elected officials parachutes pretty much explains everything going on in this kounty.
Post a Comment