FOR MOST, WITH AGE COMES WISDOM.
IN THE CASE OF RON BEATY JR., IT SEEMS TO PROVE OTHERWISE.
PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH IF YOU'RE TEMPTED TO VOTE FOR HIM.
RON BEATY CONTINUES TO BE AN EMBARRASSMENT.
Political Notes: Beaty attacks on student activist draw criticism
Not to be outdone by embattled Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Barnstable County Commissioner Ronald Beaty Jr. has posted his own string of Twitter attacks against a Parkland, Florida, student.
BARNSTABLE — Not to be outdone by embattled Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Barnstable County Commissioner Ronald Beaty Jr. has posted his own string of Twitter attacks against David Hogg, the 17-year-old gun-control advocate and survivor of the mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school in February.
The tweets began March 28, when Beaty posted a link to an article about Hogg not being accepted to several colleges, commenting, “Prediction: this guy will become a drug addict, or worse.”
On Friday, he tweeted, “Is David Hogg a complete and total clown?” Beaty followed up the next day with “David Hogg is nothing more than a self-promoting opportunistic rat!”
The comments came as Ingraham fights for her professional life. Advertisers have been abandoning her nightly talk show since a recent tweet in which she criticized Hogg for “whining” about the college rejections.
Beaty’s comments were denounced during the weekend by the Cape Cod Student Board, a group of local high school students that organized the recent March for Our Lives rally in Hyannis, and the Cape Cod chapter of Grandmothers Against Gun Violence.
The student organization called Beaty’s comments “disheartening” and “concerning,” especially because they came from an elected official. It also warned Beaty that its members include newly registered voters who will cast ballots this year and that he does not represent their values or beliefs.
Beaty is challenging incumbent state Rep. Randy Hunt, R-Sandwich, in the Republican primary in the 5th Barnstable District in September.
“It is unprofessional and certainly not admirable of Mr. Beaty to stoop so low as to insult a high school student caught in the midst of tragedy, a victim, himself,” says a statement from the Cape Cod Student Board. “It is truly discouraging to see that Mr. Beaty would say such disgraceful and slanderous things about one of our peers, whose movement we represent.”
Beaty’s tweets say more about his lack of decency than Hogg’s supposed opportunistic tendency mentioned in the comments, according to Pat Hatch, president of Cape Cod Grandmothers Against Gun Violence, who said in a statement that “personally attacking a student who is trying to do some good is shameful.”
Beaty appeared to be taking the criticism in stride when reached for comment Monday.
“They are entitled to their opinion, like I’m entitled to mine,” he said. “We’ll have to agree to disagree on our differing views of Mr. Hogg.”
A staunch supporter of the Second Amendment and the National Rifle Association, Beaty said he does not own a gun.
“I’m not legally allowed to own a gun,” he said, referring to his conviction — and 14-month stay in a federal prison — for threatening to kill President George H.W. Bush and other politicians in the early 1990s.
While the advertisers on the Ingraham Angle show are expressing displeasure with the host’s comments by taking their money elsewhere, there is no similar action that can be taken against Beaty, an elected official.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Leo Cakounes, chairman of the Barnstable County Board of Regional Commissioners. “He is entitled to his opinion, and he’s not speaking for the county or as a commissioner. But I, 110 percent, disagree with what he’s saying.”
Beaty faced a similar controversy last fall when he criticized the #MeToo movement on his Twitter feed.
