With all due respect to adult readers of comic books, District 2 Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart’s crude attempt to use comics as campaign material affirms the view that District 2 is not under adult supervision.
Rinehart is seeking a second term even as he’s fighting felony criminal charges involving his first campaign for county commission. A comic book being used to promote Rinehart’s re-election should be brought up on charges of poor taste.
Not only are the drawings crude, the message is simplistic: Rinehart is on the side of angels, his opponents are satanic. Sheriff John Whetsel, one of the distinguished people making Rinehart’s enemies list, said the work is “extremely pathetic and very bigoted.” You’d have to see the piece to understand how restrained the sheriff is in describing the comic book that way.
Spelling errors abound in the material; some words are not only misspelled, they’re misspelled several ways. We’re accustomed to Oklahoma’s county commissioners being grammatically challenged, but this piece of work could have been done by an 8-year-old. (Our apologies to 8-year-olds!)
In 16 pages of tripe, Rinehart glorifies himself and demonizes anyone who dares come against him. Actually, Rinehart is the dark knight who served with little distinction on the Oklahoma City Council before serving with even less distinction on the county commission.
Republicans should take note that the District 2 race has a viable Democratic contender who could take the seat in November. Choosing Rinehart as the GOP nominee offers no comic relief, only a defeat for the party. Rinehart has two serious challengers in the July 29 Republican primary.
Voting is no laughing matter. Crude comic books have no place in an election. Rinehart has no business continuing as a commissioner.
If his legal problems don’t remove him from office, the people must. And the sooner the better.
