After the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, one of our Ohio lawmakers landed in the center of a firestorm after some remarks she wrote on Facebook. Candice Keller is a Republican from Middletown in Butler County, District 53 of the Ohio House. She’s in her second term, and was a co-sponsor of the Heartbeat Bill. I’ve met Representative Keller several times and she’s a lovely person, just exactly the kind of principled thinker we need as a legislator.
The comments she made were really not at all controversial, unless you are an extreme liberal. But of course, the mainstream media is full of such people, who pitch the usual fits over strong values and if they can, intimidate conservatives. And then more voices of supposed outrage came from other Republicans who apparently live and die by media approval. The Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, Jane Timken, called for Representative Keller’s resignation, which promoted other Republicans to call for her, this chairman’s, resignation. And the sheriff of Butler County was also quite critical of Keller, which is a problem, since she and her family received death threats and she obviously needs local law enforcement support.
Here’s what Representative Keller said, quote: “After every mass shooting, the liberals start the blame game. Why not put the blame where it belongs?” And then she went on to list the symptoms of family breakdown in our culture—including the redefinition of marriage, fatherlessness, violent video games, drug use, gender confusion like drag queen events, and other elements of lawlessness in America.
It’s absolutely amazing that her remarks have become the subject of stories nationwide, including in the NY Times and CNN. Don’t these major media outlets have real news to cover?
Mission America stands in firm support of Representative Candice Keller and I am urging you to do so as well. Please send her an email of support by going to Ohiohouse.gov and join the many others who have emailed. Her office has received over 10,000 messages. Here’s an example of one of the messages she received: “I AM A TRANS WOMAN AND I WILL DESTROY CHRISTIANITY AND AMERICA HA HA HA YOU CAN NOT STOP ME. THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY IS DOOMED.”
Tom Zawistowski, one of Ohio’s principal Tea Party leaders, sent out a press release calling for the resignation of Jane Timken, the GOP chairwoman who immediately jumped on Candice Keller, especially since Keller’s comments reflect the platform of the Republican Party. The Butler County sheriff, Richard Jones, tweeted out “shame, shame, Candice Keller.” But there may be political motivations behind his criticism. Keller is running for Ohio Senate and her opponent is Representative George Lang, whom this sheriff has supported in the past.
Most Republicans in Ohio are in support of Keller, and I urge you to be one of them. We have many troubling issues in our culture that we need to address and she named them accurately.
