The Right Cheek Ass Clown of the Month for May, 2015

How quickly time passes! It seems like only two weeks ago we were dishonoring our Left Cheek Ass Clown for April, and now it's time to turn the page on the calendar and shine the spotlight of shame on the Right Cheek Ass Clown for May. Tempus is really fugiting, as my mother used to say.

As always, there is no lack of potential awardees, and it's always difficult to make a choice. But it has to be done, and so it is with a suitably flatulent fanfare that we introduce

The Right Cheek Ass Clown for May, 2015

Texas State Representative Molly White

Representative White, according to a news report last month, refused to meet with her constituents who would be most affected by legislation she has proposed. According to her staff, such a meeting "would be a waste of time."

The constituents with whom Representative White refused to meet represented the interests of Texas LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered) citizens, who wished to express concern about legislation she had proposed that would allow businesses to refuse to serve customers on religious grounds. She has also proposed legislation seeking to make the state’s ban on same-sex marriage immune from court rulings, and has instructed her staff to make Muslims visiting her office declare their allegiance to the United States.

Representative White's chief of staff told a newspaper that “I conveyed (to the people seeking an audience with Her Eminence) that the representative has stances on some issues and that she isn’t likely to change her mind on them. We try to be a transparent office and I told them that they needed to meet with individuals that shared their viewpoint.”

"They needed to meet with individuals that shared their viewpoint.” Since when do elected officials represent only people they agree with?

According to Janet Adamski, a political science professor at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, lawmakers are not required to meet with their constituents, but refusing to talk to a constituent because he or she does not share or respect their views is poor behavior for an elected representative, who has been - after all - elected to serve all the people of his or her district - not just those with whom he or she agrees.

Perhaps Representative White would feel differently if those constituents could compensate for their offending points of view with something with which she feels more comfortable ... like enormous campaign contributions, for instance.

For her complete ignorance of the responsibilities of an elected representative to all of her constituents, not just those of whom she approves, and for the self-righteous imposition of her religious values on others in flagrant violation of the Constitution, Texas state representative Molly White is designated our Right Cheek Ass Clown for May, 2015.

Have a good day. Expect better from your elected representatives, and send them packing when you don't get it.

Which, any more, you probably won't.

See you tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday.

Bilbo