By Scott Tibbs, August 25, 2015
On August 17, MCCSC School Board member (and former Bloomington city councilor) David Sabbagh wrote a letter to the editor attacking Republicans who are pushing to de-fund Planned Parenthood. What was interesting about the discussion in the comments is not the debate over whether PP should get corporate welfare, but the reaction to my statement that Sabbagh's position as a school board member should have been disclosed by the newspaper.
Some of the reactions:
- But there is no standard that requires your local newspaper to do your dirty work for you.
- Scott's reasoning for what he did demand is very wrong
Dirty work? Very wrong? This is absurd. Here you have an elected official taking a political position. It is informative to voters to have that elected position disclosed. That is not "dirty." It is public information in our system of representative democracy. And let's not forget that MCCSC has a relationship with Planned Parenthood that goes back over a decade, so the fact that MCCSC School Board member David Sabbagh is publicly supporting Planned Parenthood is relevant information for voters in the next school board election.
- That happens when you have fundagelical Christians who demand special rights and privileges which they aren't willing to grant others; and who demand "full disclosure" of people's personal information while these same fundagelicals refuse to disclose personal information of his own.
This is not a response to anything I said. This "argument" was fabricated out of thin air in "response" to something I never said. In other words, it is a lie and the person who posted it is a liar. I've never demanded anyone disclose personal information. I have said that elected officials' political affiliations should be disclosed. I have said that elected officials' elected positions (or candidacy for that position) should be disclosed. This is in no way "personal information," and describing it as such is a lie. That is very public information.
- Scott's ongoing temper tantrums give us a very good idea what kind of elected official he'd make.
This comment, as well as describing my call for full disclosure as "dirty" and exposing "personal information" is nothing more than hypersensitive shrieking hysteria. Following is the full text of my posts in the comments for Sabbagh's letter:
Scott Tibbs posted at 7:13 am on Mon, Aug 17, 2015.
If you want to support PP, send a check.
Do not send armed agents of the state to my home to demand I do the same.
And full disclosure on this letter: the author is a member of the MCCSC School Board. That should have been disclosed. Why did the H-T not disclose this fact? |
And...
Scott Tibbs posted at 5:54 pm on Mon, Aug 17, 2015.
Elected officials' political and policy positions should be disclosed when they make a public statement. It is informative to voters and parents that a member of the MCCSC School Board supports Planned Parenthood.
I am for giving the voters all information about the political affiliations and political/policy positions of elected officials and candidates for elective office. Apparently you are not, and that is unfortunate - especially for a member of the Monroe County Council. |
Temper tantrum? Really? I made an argument that when an elected official writes a letter to the editor, his elected position should be disclosed to inform the voters. I did not rant and rave, I did not call anyone names, I did not personally attack another commenter or a public figure, and I did not spew obscenities and vulgarities. I made an argument that this individual finds objectionable. (The fact that he hates me personally and follows me around HTO to attack me is relevant to his description of my comments as a "temper tantrum" as well.)
It amazes me sometimes what causes Leftists to become outraged. Mentioning that a LTTE writer is an elected official is not at the top of the list. That would be the furious anger over my position on prioritizing areas for snow removal, which led Leftists to erupt in furious anger and launch a despicable cascade of viciously hateful personal attacks against me. But it is instructive as to what Leftists consider "private" (only for themselves, of course!) and how they emotionally react to personalities rather than arguments made.
