How is Kim Davis (county clerk) a democrat?

[Fanatical Meat]

Would have honestly thought her as a hardcore, right-wing, backwoods, bible-thumping, nut republican. But she's a registered dem and ran under dem for her position.

Also, how the hell can she make 80K a year????????

She does more than issue marriage certificates. I read her office usually handles 3-5 marriage certificates per year before this happened so its obviously a small portion of her job. I'd guess she also track real-estate transactions, maybe taxation like property taxes and other stuff.
80k is a good chunk of change, its more a question to the county. Her Mother previously had the position for 37 years. I wonder what her Sons salary is?
She can be Democrat because you are allowed to whatever party you want. I'd guess she either ran unopposed or she had a familiar name to the voters but I'm guessing.

 

[blankslate]

Because it is the South and odd things happened with party alliances before during and after the civil rights movement in regards to bigotry...


....

 

[Bock]

Her Mother previously had the position for 37 years..

That's the real crime here. Also, county clerks in the south do way more than push paper. W/o them, rule of law breaks down.

 

[steppinthrax]

That's the real crime here. Also, county clerks in the south do way more than push paper. W/o them, rule of law breaks down.

dynastic politics

 

[cabri]

dynastic politics

Anyone is free to run against her.

All she has is name recognition from her mother and herself.
She retains no political pull from her position.

 

[MovingTarget]

That's the real crime here. Also, county clerks in the south do way more than push paper. W/o them, rule of law breaks down.

This. I don't begrudge her the salary she gets, so long as she DOES her job per the judge's instructions. The salary isn't the issue here. Disobeying a valid judicial ruling and, to a lesser extent, nepotism, are.

 

[steppinthrax]

Anyone is free to run against her.

All she has is name recognition from her mother and herself.
She retains no political pull from her position.

Her position is an office.

She runs for it, yes, others are open to run.

But as others have said, family members were before her etc....

If Jeb Bush gets elected, it's more/less the same situation.

 

[bradly1101]

Hate for gays is bipartisan, so is the Bible. If "the one true book" of "our national religion" recommends the stoning of men who lie with men, her position is unsurprising.

 

[RandallFlagg]

80K is not absurdly high. But I know lot of gov workers with higher skill sets and much lower salaries.

What the hell does she do all day besides push a pencil across a piece of paper???

Not sure about that county, but the county clerk position is not a 'clerk'. In some counties they may have > 1000 people working for them, they can act as CFO for the county, responsible for issuing summons and such for the court, and maintaining all county records. As County Clerk's go she is small time, but the position is obviously not that of a 'clerk'.

 

[Svnla]

LOL,

I'm surprised a public worker in the rural south making anything more than 30K a year!!!!

You need to get out more often.

She is a department head and $80K as a department is not high, even in the deep rural South.

Rowan County, KY is not little. Its population was over 23K people in the last census count, not some BFE with 10 people and 2 dogs.

 

[WHAMPOM]

Would have honestly thought her as a hardcore, right-wing, backwoods, bible-thumping, nut republican. But she's a registered dem and ran under dem for her position.

Also, how the hell can she make 80K a year????????

Nepotism? Aunt Jane, cousin Roy, uncle Bill serving on the County Board. 80K is chump change in those rural speed trap towns where the Deputies are taking home 150K and the Sheriff 500K and up. Try to get an unapproved candidate on a ballot there and you get your car bombed and house burnt down.

 

[WHAMPOM]

LOL,

I'm surprised a public worker in the rural south making anything more than 30K a year!!!!

It is a County position and some counties are damn big and populated, makes for a big tax base.

 

[WHAMPOM]

Kim divorced three times, holds an elected office inherited from her mother, seems her Christian beliefs may just be overcompensation .

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

That's the real crime here. Also, county clerks in the south do way more than push paper. W/o them, rule of law breaks down.

I'm looking at some pretty compelling evidence that it breaks down with them.

Also
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/State=Kentucky/Salary
vs.
Eighty. Thousand. Dollars.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

That's the real crime here. Also, county clerks in the south do way more than push paper. W/o them, rule of law breaks down.

Maybe however maybe her Mom did great things I just don't know. Maybe she has done great work before this. Who knows except someone in that county.

 

[kage69]

It's pretty simple OP; there are bigoted religious fuckwads in both parties.


Although, to be fair, I've met a lot of "Red Letter" Dems , and none of them to my knowledge have ever displayed the religious authoritarian element this bitch in Kentucky is proud of. They employ gay people at their businesses, have gay people as family, have gay congregation members.

Granted I've only been to Kentucky twice, both times forever ago, and don't have any family or friends there - but this loony woman still strikes me as a bit of an anomaly. A sad one at that.

 

[nickqt]

Party affiliation for conservative southerners began changing over from Democratic to Republican in the mid-20th century. Truman desegreating the military was one big push, and by 1964 and the civil rights movement, the trend was clear with Dixiecrats a kind of stepping stone from being a Democrat to being a Republican.

It took until the 1990s for many politicians simply because being a conservative southerner meant the same thing as being a Democrat.

Take a look at Zell Miller from Georgia, for example.

Or hell, take a look at Rick Perry of Texas, a current GOP candidate for President.

 

[Mike64]

Yeah, I wonder if this judgeship is also an elected position.

Um, no. It's federal court. Federal judges are appointed by the President with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. They have life tenure. Removing a federal judge from office is extremely difficult; it's been done only rarely in US history.

 

[Mike64]

Also, how the hell can she make 80K a year????????

Lots of overtime, apparently.* (Not to mention that being the daughter of the long-time County Clerk before her, and a former long-time employee in the office herself, by now she presumably knows all the tricks of the trade there are to maxxing out her salary.)

But you're not the only one to question it. A couple of the articles I've read on this whole Tempest-in-a-County-Clerk's-Office mention that there's been local political friction over her salary, which seems to be much, much higher than many other public officials' in her area. Indeed, according to one article, her office's budget was cut not so long ago in response to her comparatively extreme compensation level. (I don't know what the logic behind that decision was, I'm just paraphrasing what I read.)

------------------------------
* That may be incorrect. One article I read mentioned her overtime, but a post on this Facebook page says $80K is her base salary, which does seems awfully high compared to other government officials in her area.

 

[paperfist]

So if the Prez doesn't have to uphold federal law why does she?

 

[CPA]

Would have honestly thought her as a hardcore, right-wing, backwoods, bible-thumping, nut republican. But she's a registered dem and ran under dem for her position.

That's because you've been listening to the media and some of the leftist, hate-mongers on this board for too long.

 

[boomerang]

When does your religion legally excuse you from doing part of your job?

I don't care for the title of the article all that much because it doesn't accurately address Kim Davis' objections. She opposes her signature being on the marriage licenses based on her religious beliefs not the issuing of licenses. The title of the article is geared more towards other instances of religious objections in employment and how those objections are being and have been addressed.

Kentucky has an RFRA law that applies in this case although this is the first time it will come into question in the courts. The article is an interesting read.

 

[HomerJS]

So if the Prez doesn't have to uphold federal law why does she?

There is a bit of a difference in following the law and enforcing the law.

Certain officials have discretion of enforcement. If you notice cops don't write a ticket to everyone that exceed the speed limit.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

They're as valid as any license issued on a day she was sick, on vacation, or out of the office for whatever reason at the time when they were issued.

This loon needs to stay in jail until she complies or resigns and shit on the judge if he releases her otherwise.

I agree.

Do you feel the same about this person?

Edit. She performed the first gay marriage in TX thereby being rewarded for her failure to do her duty.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

I agree.

Do you feel the same about this person?

That story is from 2012. But, yes, if she is currently refusing to issue same sex marriage licenses for personal reasons, she needs to step aside as she is not performing her job as a public servant.