Editor,
Everyone’s heard of Ronald Reagan’s mythical “welfare queen.” She’s lazy, uneducated, unwilling to do anything to improve herself or her lot — she just wants those government checks to keep rolling in. Oh, and she also dresses well, drives an expensive car, lives in a nice house or apartment, and spends her money on luxury items, etc.
Reagan and his advisors who created this welfare queen myth are the reason the nation moved to make getting a welfare check harder. In reality, as we now know, Reagan’s welfare queen myth was really being used as a dishonest pretext to cut needed government programs for the poor so he could further reduce taxes for his rich friends.
Well, that was then, this is now. There is breaking news — Ronald Reagan’s “welfare queen” has been found. She is alive and well and living on either Camano Island or somewhere in Kitsap County. That’s right, it is none other than Island County Commissioner Kelly Emerson. This is the same Kelly Emerson whose political party decries all the “takers” who want free money from the government. This is the same Kelly Emerson who bemoans all the wasteful government spending and claims to be the champion of hard-working taxpayers who already pay too much of their hard-earned money in support of government programs and government employees.
And, yes, this is the same Kelly Emerson who is feeding at the government trough by demanding her commissioner’s salary but not showing up for work to earn it. She skips more meetings than she attends in person and on occasion phones it in from god knows where. By any reasonable definition, that is “welfare.” I’ll leave it to the Island County Prosecutor’s Office to determine if any criminal wrongdoing is also implicated by her actions.
Where is the outrage from the Tea Partyers who constantly harp about taxpayer dollars being used for inappropriate purposes? Why is there total silence from those on the right? We all know how vocal they would be if a Democrat pulled these shenanigans and demanded to be paid for work that is not being done. I anxiously await their views on their very own “welfare queen.”
Sincerely,
NELS KELSTROM
Clinton
