By Scott Tibbs, February 16, 2015
It feels strange that a conservative Republican would be defending the integrity of Democratic city councilors Andy Ruff and Dave Rollo, but that is what I am doing here. These two have come under intense attack for their support of reducing the deer population at Lake Griffy. The reason I am defending them is because the attacks on these two have been over the line, and in many cases have been little more than smears.
When it comes to the deer cull itself, I do not have a strong opinion one way or the other, though I have enjoyed poking fun at some of the "save Bambi" types.
What I am saying is that accusing two committed environmentalists - the two biggest environmental activists on the city council - of "lying" to justify a deer kill is completely absurd. Some of Rollo and Ruff's critics have basically turned these two into Captain Planet villains, which is laughable. Do opponents of the deer cull really think that Rollo and Ruff would support hiring sharpshooters to kill deer if they did not believe it is necessary to preserve biodiversity?
Sometimes, people can simply disagree without having nefarious motives or committing nefarious actions in support of an agenda. I strongly disagree with both Rollo and Ruff on a large number of issues, but there is no doubt in my mind that their motives on the deer cull are honorable. There is no doubt that they want what is best for Lake Griffy, both he plants and the animals. It is typical of our coarsened political discourse that Rollo and Ruff's critics cannot simply disagree with their policy - the people promoting that policy must be liars with a conflict of interest.
Keep in mind that I am a far-right Republican who would love to see both of these two men defeated in the November election. I hope the Republican Party can recruit three at-large candidates and a candidate for the Fourth District to take both off the city council. But political opponents or not, neither of these two men deserve the kind of uncivil attacks they are getting, especially when posted by anonymous users on HeraldTimesOnline.
