Incumbent Republican Commissioner David Dotterer wrote a response.
The following is an exchange that took place in the Comments section of the Substack version of this blog.
The response was not made to me directly. It was made to a third party who asked the question:
"Hi Dave, Where do you stand on the July 8th resolution which says the 2000 Mules Documentary is "irrefutable" proof?
Dotterer's response was sent to me.
Bravo, Peter! That really needs to be heard, loud and clear. Than-you!
What he might as well have said is that he long ago learned not to pay attention to the truth if it was likely to alienate his base. The reason for the Jackson County Republican Party resolution is that it accurately reflects the beliefs of their brainwashed base and far be it from Dotterer to contradict them with facts.
It appears that the resolution was put out to intimidate Republican office holders.
Looks like it worked...
Yes, but there is one problem. You are a witness to something and cannot pretend that you don't see it and that others don't see how you respond. It is a dangerous lie that has infected a significant number of the people whose general political positions you hold, i.e. fellow Republicans. You are a leader. You hold a position of trust.
If you saw a colleague on the Board of Commissioners take a bribe to OK a land use decision you could say "I learned not to pay attention to bribes such as this." And if people saw you take that position, because they announced it in a press release, then the public would learn something terrible about the integrity of government in Jackson County. They would see you turning a blind eye to corruption, and the blind eye says it is OK, or at least not something you care to object to.
You are a Republican and ran for office as a Republican. Your own Jackson County elections office had a warning painted on its parking lot: "Votes don't count. Bullets next time." David, you cannot ignore this. What people think about the election puts county employees at some potential risk. You have a duty, but you are saying it is ok not to pay attention.
On my doorstep in about 2004 you were campaigning and I watched you show integrity when I asked if Muslims should be allowed to build a facility in lower Manhattan. I watched you hesitate, then say there there was no reason a Muslim facility should not be built in lower Manhattan. It was their right as Americans. If they fit the zoning, they had every right, just like Christians, Jews, or anyone else. That took courage. You likely guessed I would echo the then-loudest voices saying that they should be forbidden to be there. The easy thing would have been to go along with the Fox News viewers who were saying "No Muslims near the former World Trade Center." You did the right thing. You told the simple truth to a voter. You were educating me as to what it meant to be an American, but also educating me about you. I surprised you when I said "good answer." You were a City of Ashland Planning Commissioner then--a tiny appointed office. Now you hold a serious, high visibility partisan office. Your courage would matter more than ever now.
Peter Sage