Dear Editor
I have seen a lot of ridiculous political mailers over the years, but I think 2020 takes the cake.
Take, for example, the blitz of mailers from groups nobody has ever heard of against State Rep. Ray Russell. After the first half-dozen or so, the one in my mailbox today claims Russell “signed a pledge (to): defund police (and) disarm police of life-saving equipment” in the middle of a spike in NC murders.
That doesn’t sound like the mild-mannered Ray Russell I’ve met, so I followed the sources the mailer cited. The pledge was suggested by a group called “Future Now” (futurenow.org/pledge – you can check it out yourself) and, lo and behold, it says NOTHING about the police. Zip. Nada. Nothing.
The pledge is to support goals of – good jobs, affordable quality healthcare, investing in children, empowering people over Special Interests (which may explain why the group that sent the mailer doesn’t like it), equal opportunity for all, sustainable infrastructure/resilience/innovation, and clean air/water/energy.
Personally, I would hope that EVERY elected official would support those goals.
These mailers are lies and they are offensive. This is outside money messing in our local elections, which ticks me off. And anyone running against Rep. Russell and potentially benefitting from these lies needs to disavow these mailers and apologize for them.
Marjory Holder
Boone