Published on the Lynchburg ledger on October 15, 2010
Commentary
By Bill Wheaton
Press media Group, LLC
When Robert Hurt won the Republican primary in June, a prominent Campbell County Republican called Rick Boyer asking him to support Hurt. Boyer and his politically active family supported Feda Morton, who received only 73 votes in the county. Although Morton sent out an email on election eve urging her supporters to support Robert Hurt, Rick Boyer, who would have us believe he is “Mr. Republican,” refused.
Boyer changed his mind only after he decided to run for Clerk of the Court in Campbell County
Kirk has accused supporters of Sheila Bosiger , the Interim Clerk of the Court, of packing the nominating meeting with Democrats. This is a smear tactic usually used by the liberals. The fact is, the person who packed the meeting was Rick Boyer bringing in people from his church, many of whom had no idea why they were there.
But now that Boyer is running for Clerk of the Court as a Republican, a position he is unqualified for, he expects all the Republicans to support him. Most of the county elected Republicans who have to work with the Clerk are not. They know he is unqualified and has the wrong temperament to be an elected official, which he demonstrated when he was a supervisor.
I covered the board of supervisor meetings for the last three years of Boyer’s term and observed first hand just how ineffective he was. He had the arrogance to try to lecture his six colleagues on the board, who combined had in excess of 100 years of public service experience.
The board members were much too professional and polite to publicly criticize Boyer and the senior member, Hugh Rosser (a Democrat) attempted to mentor him with no success.
It was obvious to me that Boyer did not run to be a public servant, but to gain political power. He paid little attention to the needs and concerns of his constituents. He used his position as supervisor to attack fellow Republican Senator Steve Newman publicly, which drew the ire of numerous religious leaders including the late Jerry Falwell.
Dr. Falwell always had unique ways of addressing problems so in an attempt to educate Boyer, he gave him a scholarship to Liberty Law School
It would appear that after the three year law school education, Boyer has gained in knowledge, but not in wisdom. My personal experience is that he cannot disagree without being disagreeable. He simply does not have the temperament to be a public servant. His life goal is political power not public service.
While in law school, Boyer worked in the family drywall finishing business and did an addition to the house of a friend of mine. He asked Rick what he intended to do after law school and his reply was to go into politics. His ambition for political power is certainly no secret.
On issues, you would be hard pressed to find any difference between Rick Boyer and I, we are both strong conservatives. Our differences lie in the way we implement our conservative beliefs.
For example, he objected to my support for Jim Gilmore over Bob Marshall for Senate in 2008. Instead of entering into a dialogue, Boyer chose confrontation.
This confrontational attitude must run in the Boyer DNA. I have been writing a column for over a dozen years and without a doubt, the nastiest email I have ever received was from Rick Boyer’s brother Tim who is the Vice Chairman of the Campbell County Republicans, Even an email from a self-described “bi-sexual feminist psychotherapist” I received was more civil than Boyer’s.
Comments like “Bill, you are so filled with hate and vengefulness that you insist on making an utter, blithering idiotic fool of yourself” and “I would suggest saving yourself further embarrassment by retreating back north of the Mason-Dixon line where your intelligence may have a fighting chance of hitting the geographical average,” don’t lend themselves to establishing meaningful dialogue.
Besides not having the temperament, Boyer does not have the knowledge for the position he seeks. In a recent visit to a businessman, he stated he intended to make the “land book” more available to the public. Only problem there is that the Clerk has no authority to do so. The Commissioner of the Revenue is responsible for the land book.
The clerk is responsible for the land records, and if Boyer doesn’t know the difference, he certainly is not prepared for the job. Boyer is telling people about all the changes he plans to make sounding almost like Barack Obama did in the 2008 campaign. We have seen what Obama change has meant.
This would be nothing more than a political stepping stone for Boyer, and he would turn the Clerk’s office into his base for future political action. Most seekers of this office do so to serve the public until retirement.
The old saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” applies to this race. Everyone who uses the Clerk’s office is pleased with its operation under Interim Clerk Sheila Bosiger . Some candidates have tried to find fault, to no avail.
Rick Boyer would be an unmitigated disaster, and Sheila Bosiger is the only logical choice for Clerk on November 2nd .
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