THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501190250
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
I am consistently amazed and chagrined every time I read yet another in a string of ``horse-fly'' letters to the editor written by a handful of members of the local Republican Party. It is obvious that the local party has engaged in mimicking the national Republican Party's attack-dog strategy. I'm reminded that sometimes the dogs get the bumper in their mouth.
What we have here is an old-fashioned propaganda campaign that has been used by demagogues for many years. It is based on the premise that if you repeat your message often enough the people will begin to believe it. Every couple of weeks a letter appears on the editorial page penned by one of a handful of local Republican Party activists attacking our local Board of Commissioners.
These letters' favorite entertainments are that Dare County is run by:
1. A ``Good Ol'Boy'' decision system - the sitting commissioners and a few cronies make decisions in private; and/or
2. ``Tax and Spend Liberals``; and/or
3. ``Liberal/Socialists''
While these labels may hold some credence when applied to certain national political levels, it is absurd to apply this babble at the local level, particularly in Dare County. This babble is especially inane in that it indicates the wholesale aping of the National Republican Committee's slogans in a vacuum with no thought being given to the idea that the citizens of Dare County might, in fact, be able to see through this effort.
``Good Ol'Boy'' - closed system? As far as closed processes are concerned, I suppose that the letter writers assume that the citizens of Dare County are not welcome at the public hearings or public comment opportunities, nor do they use the telephones, mail, fax machines, etc., to be able to contact our elected officials when an issue piques their interest.
Call Bobby Owens a ``Tax and Spend Liberal'' to his face. What a joke! I suppose when they run the story on Bobby Owens that describes how under his leadership, the first order of business was to reorganize the county government, cut spending (saving this county hundreds of thousands of dollars), cut the tax rate and essentially revolutionize the way the county does business, that he will fit neatly into that ``Tax and Spend' category.
The Republican bus may have left the station in the rest of the country. This is clear. But this is Dare County and it is a long road to 1996. The people of this country and the people of Dare County are going to be looking for results, not political posturing, when the next election cycle rolls around.
Gervas S. ``Bo'' Taylor III
Chairman
Democratic Party of Dare County by CNB