Congressman Rutherfraud
Here’s my letter to the St. Augustine Record:
To the Editor:
Thanks to the Record for reprinting Nate Monroe’s courageous column. I agree that John Rutherford’s behavior is despicable. He must resign.
Even after the insurrection, Rep. Rutherford still had the audacity to support Trump’s lethal lies that lead to the deaths of four people. Now we learn that a fifth, Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, was murdered by Trump’s storm troopers.
In his floor speech, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin reminded us that contesting a legal election has serious consequences. He spoke of the election of 1876 when Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana agreed to award Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes their electoral votes if Hayes agreed to remove federal troops protecting freedmen. The result was the end of Reconstruction and 100 years of Jim Crow segregation and lynching.
Hayes’ contempt for democracy led his opponents to refer to him as “Rutherfraud.”
It’s time for Florida business groups and newspapers to demand accountability of those who enable Trump’s deadly sedition. The National Association of Manufacturers has called on Vice-President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment. The Wall Street Journal has called for Trump to resign.
I believe that the St. Augustine Record and its sister newspapers should call for Congressman Rutherford to resign as well.
No longer should we represented by a “Rutherfraud.”
Mike Konopacki
St. Augustine