Let's Talk About the Other Issues Concerning Roy Moore

Roy Moore’s campaign  for U.S. has become enveloped in a scandal involving his sexual misconduct with teenage girls, which occurred about 35 to 40 years ago.  What is lost in this discussion is Moore’s unfitness for office on a raft of other issues, including judicial misconduct, financial corruption, opposition to the separation of Church and State, LGBT intolerance, opposition to civil rights, Islamophobia, climate-change denial, opposition to science, birtherism, support for neo-Confederates, and irrational religious views. 

It concerns me that the pedophilia issue is the only issue in front of the electorate.  It is disturbing to me that other issues are not judged to be significant, and that the pedophilia charge is the only one to arouse serious opposition among mainstream Republicans.

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Roy Stewart Moore is a Republican candidate for the United States Senate.  Moore will compete in a special election to be held December 12, 2017, being held to fill the seat formerly held by Jeff Sessions, who was chosen to be U.S. Attorney General.

Roy Moore’s campaign has been subject to nation-wide criticism over allegations that he pursued sexual encounters with a number of teenage girls while in his 30s.  The allegations are supported by multiple accusations and credible circumstantial evidence.  Moore is now 70 years old.  Polling data shows that Moore has lost about 9% of his support due to the scandal, and that the election is now a toss-up between Moore and his Democratic opponent, Doug Jones.  The pedophilia scandal has dominated national discussion. 

What is lost in the discussion about Roy Moore is the rest of story.  Yes, many believe he is clearly unqualified for office, because of his behavior 35 years ago.  But why is no one talking about the other reasons that Roy Moore is unqualified to be a U.S. Senator?

Judicial Misconduct

Moore was twice removed from office as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama.  The first event occurred in 2003, after Moore had placed a monument to the Ten Commandments in the state judicial building.  Moore defied a Federal court order to remove the monument, and was removed from office by a state judicial council.  The second event occurred in 2016, after Moore rejected the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, and ordered probate judges and state employees to disregard the ruling.   Again, the state judicial council removed Moore from office.

Financial Corruption

Moore is the founder of a charitable foundation, The Foundation for Moral Law.  Between 2007 and 2012, Moore collected over $1,000,000 in compensation from the group, which he did not publicly disclose.  The compensation was also in excess of what the foundation revealed in its tax filings, but was documented in internal documents.  Moore also accepted a promissory note from the foundation for an additional $540,000, or an equal stake in the foundation’s most valuable real-estate asset.  The foundation further provided Moore health-care benefits, travel expenses and a personal bodyguard.  Moore’s two children and wife were also on the payroll of the foundation.  These payments appear to be in violation of IRS regulations prohibiting the use of a charity for the private benefit or enrichment of an individual, but have not been challenged in court.

Religious Intolerance

Moore is most widely known for advocating the placement of the Ten Commandments in courtrooms, which is generally regarded as violating the Constitution’s ban on the establishment of a state religion.  Consider – could a Hindu woman expect a fair trial in a courtroom which declares “You shall have no other God before me?”  Perhaps that is the point.

Moore is also on record as saying that Muslims should be banned from serving in Congress, and voiced nonsensical opposition to non-existent Sharia law in the United States.

LGBT Intolerance

Moore supports laws to make homosexuality illegal, and has issued rulings denying rights to homosexuals.  As mentioned above, Moore defied Supreme Court and Federal Court rulings legalizing same-sex marriage.  Moore holds the view that transgender people have no rights.    

Other Issues

Roy Moore has a history of extreme statements and actions.  At one time or another, Moore indicated his position on the following list of issues.

• Opposes civil rights and the 1965 voting rights act.
• Rejects the separation of Church and State.
• Opposes pre-school education on the grounds that it teaches liberalism.
• Believes that the 2001 terrorist attacks were divine punishment for accepting gays in society.
• Denies human-caused climate change.
• Leading figure in the “birther” controversy.
• Denies evolution.
• Hosted Neo-Confederate events at Moore’s foundation.
• Spoke of the United States as an evil empire.

Conclusion

Moore is clearly unfit for office, especially for the U.S. Senate.  It seems to me that the public discussion of his candidacy should include all of the issues, as well as the charge of pedophilia.   

I believe that mainstream Republicans are deeply divided on Moore’s candidacy.  They recognize Moore’s absolute unfitness for office, and in many ways would prefer that the Democrat win this election.  On the other hand, Republicans realize that the election of the Democrat will endanger the mainstream Republican agenda.  And for that, they will put up with anything.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Moore

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/undisclosed-deal-guaranteed-roy-moore-180000-a-year-for-part-time-work-at-charity/2017/10/11/5f56679e-a9de-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html

https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/11/01/Media-ignore-Alabama-Senate-candidate-Roy-Moores-other-extremist-belief-climate-change-den/218399

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/roy-moore-climate-change_us_59ea7afce4b00f08619ef072

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/is-roy-moore-losing/