The Republican Party has the power and authority to fire a committee member. They should fire Committeeman Joe Scott, Northampton District #3 for his insensitive remark at the televised and recorded Northampton Supervisor’s meeting. He called Northampton Supervisor Cunningham’s face gestures “Retarded”. His remark was sick, insensitive, caused hurt in the community. There will be consequences by the voters the Republican leadership does not remove Scott from party office.
Northampton Township works hard on behalf of people with cognitive and developmental dis-abilities. The committeeman’s remark offended not only our special children but the entire community. His remark was the subject of a front page above the fold report in the Bucks County Courier Times and the subject of the Editorial Boards “Our View”. It hurt the citizens of Northampton.
Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can break my heart. Words have power. People can be insensitive. People make mistakes but some mistakes reveal deeper ideas. There are plenty of good Republican people in District #3 who can replace Mr. Scott and the party should replace him immediately and announce why they acted that way. That will show the citizens of Northampton that the Republican party doesn’t support his remark.
This issue is not going to go away. Committeeman Scott offended people before this but this time he went way over the line. If he continues as a Republican Committeeman the Republican party in Bucks County will be judged as agreeing with his behavior and that’s not good on many levels.
The Republican party of Bucks County should show some decency and not allow the insensitive, offensive remarks of one committeeman define the entire party as insensitive to the needs of our special needs community.
It’s one thing for a citizen to make an insensitive remark at a public meeting. They do not represent the Republican party. A committeeman does. He must be aware of the citizens ideas in a district and represent those opinions and the feelings of the people to the Northampton Republican Committee which in turn pass along that information to the Bucks County Executive Committee. How can the Republican party stand idly by and ignore this breach by an insider?
The offensive committeeman apologized. The apology was defiant and was used as an excuse to explain his insensitive behavior. He excused his behavior by explaining: “I’m a pretty passionate person, ……. but (Supervisor Cunningham) clearly has a habit of making faces at people when they don’t agree with him, and I called him on it.”
Is that a serious apology? Of course not. The Republican party needs to rise about the insensitive behavior and stupid, childlike apology that’s not apology. The party needs to put this issue behind them. Removing Mr. Scott as a representative of the party and the community is appropriate. Should the Republican party of Northampton and Bucks County do more? Sure. The piper must be paid and amends need to be made.
I’m a Registered Republican. When I was on the ballot I conducted myself with dignity because I knew I was asking the voters to represent them and I also knew I would be representing the Republican party. I took those ideas seriously. Mr. Scott obviously did not. The next move is up to the leadership.
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