Dear Editor,

I’m writing this in response to Mr. Bill Bryant’s letter of October 16, 2022, complaining about the Republican Party’s majority of officeholders in Belmont County and based on the quote by Lord Acton that they are somehow corrupt!

His letter to the editor decries how the Republicans in Belmont County are occupying most offices in the county and the county seat (St. Clairsville).

His complaint, which is “true to form” for Democrats when they do not have a valid argument, is to give us an emotionally charged slogan in lieu of a well framed argument: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!”

News flash, Mr. Bryant! The Democrats were in control of both Belmont County and Jefferson County for decades before their own corruption or ineptness finally caught up to them. With — it would appear — that the last one just recently feeling the “long hand of the law” has finally brought him to justice.

Now, my friend: if you cannot offer any example(s) of the Republican Party in Belmont County abusing their offices then I suggest you not hand us unsupported SLOGANS or unfinished quotes by philosophers like Lord Acton.

By the way, the complete quote is:

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.”

Now my question to you is: Are you accusing the Republican officeholders in the county of being “Bad Men (and Women)?

If so, feel free give us some examples. I, for one, have not seen or heard of that problem.

Lucien Murzyn

St Clairsville