I think it’s ridiculous that the unstable county clerk from Kentucky or wherever had to be jailed. The woman obviously has mental issues, what’s with the weird personal history, the strangely emotional reaction to paperwork, sudden religious conversions, unhealthy appearance, and a weirdo son from one of the weirdo marriages.
It would have been more productive to send her on medical leave. Now she’s become some sort of a martyr for an undefined cause, and that’s just stupid.
Yes. I agree. I thought the same thing. She should be put on leave and, at worst, fired. (If she can’t do her job, it seems reasonable to let her go.) But I’m not sure I understand why she in jail?
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She’s an elected official. You can’t just fire her; she has to be formally impeached, probably by the state legislature. Remember, this is Rand Paul’s state — the ability to inflate this into an epic circus is always there. The KY governor doesn’t want to convene the legislature for that reason. Can’t blame him. Imagine in the uproar, this gal becomes the GOP VP candidate? The Sara Palin of 2016?
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I haven’t followed the story terribly closely. I didn’t realize her position was an elected one. It still seems that jailing her is an overreaction. There must be some way of preventing her from working while not incarcerating her. But to tell you the truth, I don’t know for sure. What an insane mess.
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What’s also sad is that all this insanity is spoiling people’s weddings. What is supposed to be a happy occasion is now part of this, as Vic said, circus.
It hurts me profoundly that this is being done in the name of Christianity.
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A judge has ordered her to issue marriage licenses and she is refusing. That makes her in contempt of the court, which is a punishable offence. The judge has only two options, fine her or send her to jail. I believe judges generally prefer fines, but she has backing from religious groups who would likely step in to pay fines for her, so the judge has used the only other option and sent her to jail.
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It’s very weird that this should be an elected office. All she does sounds like a formality with no content. The trouble started when she tried filling it with content.
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Even a couple of years ago, I wouldn’t take the idea of her as a possible VP candidate seriously. And now I do. That’s a very sad development.
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Several Republican candidates — intelligent ones like Bush, Fiorina, and Graham, and even the chief idiot Trump — have said that ” crazy lady from Kentucky” Kim Davis should be required to follow federal law.
The fundamentalist nutcase candidates (Huckabee, Cruz, Jindal) are upset at the court’s ruling.
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What an infantile personality she must have. Her job is not to set policy, but to enforce policy made elsewhere. If she can not do that in good conscience then fine, she should resign.
I feel like the only adult in a room with cranky four year olds when people try to turn this into a religious issue…..
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The sister-wife-chic Kentuckian went to jail for contempt and then was released but is barred from stopping other clerks from issuing marriage licences.If she disobeys the order again, I’m not sure what happens. She should not have the $80,000/year office as her sinecure just because her mother had it. I I honestly think some of the candidates backed off from supporting her because of her style of dress. “Polygamist compound uniform” says “crazy weirdo”. If she looked or dressed like Reese Witherspoon and ran a heterosexual bakery she’d get more sympathy.
This crowd scares me I don’t know why she’d care one way or the other unless one of her husbands is/was closeted.
I’m wildly speculating, but I’d lay odds she doesn’t have an education beyond high school and could not find a better job than this one. I don’t know why it doesn’t offend more people that she has such an easy job that pays significantly more than the median income in that county and the US and she refuses to suck it up. Seriously, most people’s workplaces don’t cater so much to their fucking sensibilities and feelings. She provides no useful service besides stamping papers and she’s needlessly fucking things up for the government office in which she works. You’d think more anti bureaucrat Republicans would be against this kind of ridiculousness.
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$80,000 a year???? Are you kidding me?
This is the most insulting thing I’ve heard in weeks. I make a lot less than that, and I actually provide a multitude of important services. This is simply offensive.
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You’ll love this:
Davis served as Rowan County chief deputy clerk, reporting to her mother, Jean W. Bailey, for 24 years.[12] Kentucky law permits elected county officials to employ their family members and to determine their compensation; it is common practice in the commonwealth.[12]
In 2011, county residents complained about Davis’s compensation, an annual wage of $51,812 and an additional $11,301 in overtime and other compensation during 2011.[12] Davis earned substantially more than the county’s other chief deputies, including $38,000 for the Chief Deputy Sheriff Joe Cline and $36,000 to the Deputy Judge-Executive Jerry Alderman, neither of whom receive overtime pay.[12] The County Fiscal Court reviewed the compensation of clerks in the office and voted unanimously to cut the department’s salary budget by one-third for 2012…
As county clerk, she receives an annual salary of $80,000.[4][9]…One of Davis’s twin sons, Nathan, works in her office as a deputy clerk and has taken the same position of denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples.[62]
This page says what she does. She’s like the head bureaucrat for the county.
In November, when she won her office she said
this:
I don’t even know where to start. I am so humbled and feel so blessed that the people put so much confidence in me,” said Davis. “My words can never express the appreciation but I promise to each and every one that I will be the very best working clerk that I can be and will be a good steward of their tax dollars and follow the statutes of this office to the letter.”
Then Obergefell v Hodges was decided six months into her term and she decided she wasn’t going to do her job or anyone else in her office to do their jobs.
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This sounds extremely shady. The job seems to stay inside the family for generations. If at least, she did the job without making so much drama about it, then whatever. As state employees, we all do things we don’t enjoy at work. I hate having to spend 4 hours every semester sitting through a class that teaches me not to steal paper from the office. And I grumble but would it ever occur to me to refuse to fulfill my duties because I don’t happen to enjoy them?
I hate this sort if whiny childish drama queens. Don’t feel capable of doing your job? Then leave the position to those who do.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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