Councilman chooses job over constituency
Danny Frazier, a councilman for the town of Lexington, has been recorded explaining to friends and peers how to set up illegal video poker machines and how to hide them from law enforcement.
Surprisingly, a government official instructing others how to proceed with illegal activities is not the worst part of this story. Shortly after the tapes surfaced, the town council had a meeting and voted unanimously to request Frazier’s resignation.
He refused.
Immediately after his refusal, citizens of Lexington took to the podium, directly asking him to step down in light of these disgraceful actions. The session lasted over an hour as citizen after citizen stood and voiced the need for his resignation.
Frazier has yet to step down.
The problem with this is not Lexington’s lack of means to force a member’s resignation; this fiasco is just a recent and small scale example of what is going on throughout the political field. Politicians are more focused on their political careers than representing the people who vote for them. The people want Frazier gone, but he refuses to step down. This is another instance where the main goal in politics is to lengthen one’s political career.
Americans give their elected officials the power to create laws, enforce laws and issue judgments based on one assumption: In being elected by the people, these men and women are making decisions aligned with our wishes. This is assured when we vote assuming they will follow their own personal beliefs, and not the beliefs most likely to keep their paychecks coming