PRESS RELEASE

Robert Slockbower, Democratic Freeholder Candidate, Sussex County

The job of holding an elected office is to be a servant of the people. The well-being of the constituents is to be the number one priority. Or, at least, it should be.

Yesterday, the Sussex County Board of Chosen Freeholders put aside that priority and postponed the work of the people who elected them to attend a political rally for Donald Trump. This rally was one that Trump’s official campaign disavowed and had sent a cease-and-desist letter to the organizers, making it all the more pointless. In addition, my opponent, incumbent Herb Yardley, spoke to a completely mask-less crowd in the middle of a pandemic.

Let me be clear about what I’m talking about: our county’s elected Freeholders put the business of the people who elected them on the back-burner to attend and speak at an unauthorized political rally in their official capacity. My opponent — the former Health Officer and Administrator of Sussex County’s Division of Environmental and Public Sciences — ignored the science and actively endangered his own health by speaking at an event that did not enforce mask-wearing or social distancing.

This is irresponsible and disrespectful to everyone in the county.

The county legislature had never instituted a plan to deal with the initial wave of Covid-19 and they are nowhere near considering how to deal with the possibility of a second wave that they themselves are contributing to. Despite this, they somehow have plenty of time for partisan rallies and resolutions against the legalization of recreational marijuana. This is the modern-day GOP: they want to legislate who people can love, what kind of sex is acceptable, what you’re allowed to consume, how to worship, dictate sexual health education curricula, whether or not females are allowed to make decisions about their bodies, etc. But when it comes to a public health crisis that has resulted in numerous illnesses and deaths, you’re on your own.

I am a huge believer and supporter of personal freedoms. Individual liberty is a concept I wholeheartedly embrace, but I also recognize that freedom doesn’t erase our responsibility to each other, our communities and the public at large. Yes, Herb Yardley is free to endanger his own health, but his freedom to swing his fist stops at my nose. He and Dawn Fantasia may see themselves as warriors for freedom and liberty, but, in reality, they are endangering everyone around them and willingly contributing to the spread of a virus that has already claimed 210,000 American lives. No one possesses this personal freedom. That is not an essential liberty. It is dangerous, reckless, and disrespectful.

If you have not voted yet, make a plan to do so and remember how these county employees made a decision to disregard the safety of you and your family in the middle of a pandemic.