By Bart J Allen
For some reason, all of the news organizations in Salina have no interest in printing Rep. J.R. Claeys response to the Huffington Post regarding county commissioner Jim Gile’s current debacle. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t reflect too well on his/our county. Nonetheless, some of us value how we are viewed by the outside world, in this case by our own elected government representative.
The Huffington Post – UPDATE: A Republican lawmaker has added his voice to those criticizing Gile for his remarks. State Rep. J.R. Claeys (R-Salina) said that Gile’s remark and the fact that it was backed up during the meeting raises concerns about the county government, which he called “dysfunctional.” He also said that Gile’s attempt to use his age to mask the comment is unacceptable, noting that people should know that the term he used is discriminatory.
“I think every citizen in our county should take a long, hard look at every individual in that room who allowed those comments to slide without immediately correcting and repudiating, not one, but multiple comments that are absolutely unacceptable in private, let alone a public meeting,” Claeys told HuffPost. “This speaks to a systemic problem with the makeup and operation of county government that is already viewed as a good ol’ boys club and needs to be dismantled by the people in such a way that it can no longer operate in this manner.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself. In fact, I’ve been quoted saying the same exact thing on many, many occasions. Now it’s not just me.
No matter what you may think of Claeys, he represents us in the House of Representatives and his words carry weight and right now, he’s telling the world one of the counties he represents is “dysfunctional”, its problems “systemic”, and run by “good ol’ boys”.
It sounds like he’s actually been here. Unfortunately, none of this is news to many of the residents of Saline County. Good or bad, the rest of the world is quickly finding out.
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