There’s an old saying: When someone shows you who he is, believe him.
I’m afraid that former Dallas council member Ron Natinsky has had a moment when he has given us insight into his deepest thoughts, and they aren’t very attractive.
In case you haven’t heard it, there is a tape out there that apparently has Natinsky explaining why its best if southern Dallas voters stay home on Election Day.
Better that they “spend their food stamp money” than vote, he says.
Natinsky says he can’t recall saying that. I’ve heard the tape; I’ve been listening to Natinsky speak for years. Absent some very elaborate and unlikely audio manipulation, that is Ron Natinsky speaking.
So where do we go from here? First, we mourn the fact that the Dallas County Republican Party has Ron Natinsky as a candidate for county judge.
The GOP has some solid people on the ballot, like Susan Hawk, who is trying to unseat District Attorney Craig Watkins, Judge Jennifer Balido, a very able hand on the bench.
Natinsky’s words – or the words that sound like they came from Natinsky’s mouth – are so destructive to conservatives who hope to pull the Republican Party away from the fringe it is clinging to ever more desperately.
We can talk about social programs and whether they keep people on the government leash or not. But food stamps are probably the most effective way to help people in need that we have as a society. Feeding one’s family should not be a source of derision or mockery. It’s sad that it is, and it’s sadder when it comes from the mouth of a major party candidate for local office. And it’s that much more sad that it’s used in the context of keeping people from their constitutional right as citizens to have a say in who governs them.
There is only one course here for Natinsky beyond denying what appears to be obvious. He must apologize, and he must accept the electoral consequences that will come from this.
It’s unlikely he was going to win anyway. But this hurts those in his party who actually had a chance. And it hurts good if needy residents who do’t deserve the back of a politician’s hand.