Beech Tree News Network

     Local:  The 2018 local election is now in the history books and for that I'm sure many people are relieved.  Congratulations to Butler County Judge-Executive-elect Tim Flener, who cruised to victory last week over Mark Mudd.  Flener has proven himself to be a prolific vote-getter, both in the primary and General Election.  Some political observers were slightly surprised at the margin of Flener's victory, given that Mudd ran a hard, well-financed campaign.  Some party politics was definitely a factor as many cast a straight party-line vote, suggesting that events happening at the national scene may have trickled down to the local level.  The GOP party registration advantage proved to be just that - an advantage.  Those factors aside, Tim Flener demonstrated that he was a strong candidate.  Flashy?  Maybe not to some.  Solid, steady?  You bet.  Campaign work ethic?  Absolutely.  Bottom line - Tim Flener connected with Butler County voters and they rewarded him at the ballot box.

     I would be amiss not to mention our annual Veterans' Day program held Monday at the high school.  Once again, it was a well-organized event that brought the community together in a special way - to honor our veterans … those who have served and sacrificed to support our nation, our way of life.  I was struck this year by the unity on display.  Republicans and Democrats, the "Left" and the "Right," the "Red" and the "Blue" all came together and bottled up our differences and channeled our best instincts as a people.  It was a gentle reminder that we are, in fact, one nation and we all should do a better job of acting like it.  We need more days like this.

     State:  Florida, well at least 1 of its 67 counties, should look to the Commonwealth of Kentucky for guidance as to how to conduct an election and count votes.  From current Secretary of State Alison Grimes to Trey Grayson before her (and even before this), Kentucky has solid history of conducting elections.  Whether it is ballot design, proper polling locations, reporting methods, registration simplicity, etc., the folks running Kentucky elections (including the county clerks in all 120 counties) should get high marks.  We also deserve credit for NOT doing wacky things like jungle primaries, Election Day voter registration, mail-in ballots, or way-early voting.  Those things tend to lead to confusion and controversy.  Some form of early voting is likely coming to Kentucky and that's fine.  Hopefully, that process will be clear and well defined.  With Kentucky's history in elections, I have confidence that it will.  Two things are certain - citizens must have faith in the electoral process and some states should clearly invest more money in order to improve their election procedures.  Our Republic deserves it.

     National:  What this Republic definitely doesn't deserve is more reporters like CNN's Jim Acosta, who clearly behaved inappropriately last week at a White House press conference with President Trump.  His credentials have been temporarily suspended because he refused to hand over his mic when asked to do so.  Good.  To be clear, neither Acosta nor his network (despite their lawsuit) should be viewed as journalistic martyrs battling against the totalitarian regime of a Stalin-want-to-be autocrat in Trump.  To compare the current occupant of the White House to notorious world leaders like this shows a blatant ignorance of history.  Yeah, Trump is highly critical toward some elements of the media - more than most other presidents in recent history.  But, he is also one of the most accessible presidents (to the media) in modern history as well.  Acosta, CNN and several other news outlets are obviously enraged by the Trump the man and Trump's agenda.  Thus, they are on full-fledged attack mode 24-7 against all things Trump.  In doing so, they have clearly blown past the line of objective reporting.  This is worth remembering before we shed any tears for poor, old Jim and his partisan network.       

     Parting shot:  This may come as news flash to some but a president, any president, may fire the attorney general, who serves at the pleasure of the executive.  The fact that President Trump pushed out AG Jeff Sessions last week isn't a cause of constitutional alarm.  It's no "Saturday Night Massacre," (referring to Nixon and Watergate) as some pundits have suggested.  Keep calm and carry on.

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