I recently wrote to The Citizen about a recent Republican Candidate Forum involving the County Commission Post 1 race. I have three important points in a follow-up of that letter.

In my original letter, I gave my opinion as to how the forum event went, and how the candidates were ignoring the simple truths of their own voting history. Although I did not specifically give the exact numbers in that letter, I’d like to give them now as they are public record.

Since the state GOP maintains records only as far back as 1998, I will only be able to give you those records from Fayette when all of the three candidates were Fayette citizens. (Wilkerson moved to Fayette immediately after the August Primaries of 1998, therefore he was ineligible to vote in two of the 17 races held in Fayette since then.)

The voting histories of the Republican candidates for Post 1 since 1998:

Malcolm Hughes has voted eight out of 17 times, including two times in the Republican primaries and two times in the Democratic primaries, including the Democratic Presidential Primary of 2004.

Robert Horgan has voted only seven out of 17 times since 1998 and has voted in only one Republican Primary and in only one Democratic Primary.

Emory Wilkerson has voted in 15 of 15 races that he was eligible to vote in. He has voted in eight Republican primaries and NO Democratic primaries.

These are the public facts.

Now as to my second issue with The Citizen. I am, in fact, a member of the Board of Elections. I am the Republican designee. Al LaMothe is the Democratic designee and Marilyn Watts is the commissioners’ designee.

I have never written a letter to the editor in my capacity as a member of this board. I feel that it would be inappropriate for me to make any official statement of such a nature. Therefore, when I wrote my earlier letter - and this letter - I did not include my particular titles as such. I was writing these letters in my capacity as merely a citizen.

It is true that I am on the Board of Elections. It is true I am first vice chair of the local Republican Party. It is true that I have held many positions over the years, not the least of which is husband and father, which I hope is my greatest of all accomplishments.

However, this newspaper chose to specifically add my status as a Board of Elections member to my moniker without my knowledge or consent. I particularly do not have a problem with that, except to ask that as a policy, if this newspaper wants to add this information to the letters to the editor that it should separate that information as specifically provided by the newspaper.

In fact, The Citizen put my title in italic to perhaps establish this fact, but many people did not understand this and many confronted me about posting my personal opinions regarding an election on behalf of my position as a Board of Elections member. This was obviously not the case.

This follow up letter had three issues that I believed needed to be addressed.

1. The voters of Fayette should understand the importance of knowing the facts before they exercise their right to vote.

2. This newspaper should better explain its license to add or omit information contained in the letters it publishes. Although my work as on the Board of Elections may be newsworthy to report, it is also newsworthy to report that its additions are editorially driven.

And finally, 3., that as a private citizen, I have the right to voice my own opinions as to any matter.

The Citizen does a good job getting relevant information out to the citizens of Fayette County. Modifying this policy of editorially adding titles to letter writer’s names will only help the readers to fully appreciate and understand the important issues that are being brought to their attention.

Richard D. Hobbs
Private American citizen and Fayette Countian

The editor replies (in italics, as a matter of style): Letter writers who also hold or are otherwise connected with elected or appointed public office are routinely identified as such in our Letters section when we are aware of their dual roles. We have done this for many years and will continue to do so to allow the reading public to draw its own conclusions about the writer’s perspective.