I write today to express my opposition in the strongest possible terms the resolution recently brought forward by the group Baker County United to make Baker County a “constitutional county.”

I also oppose any attempt by the county to join the fringe group COSPA.

And I most strongly oppose empowering our county sheriff with the power of interpreting federal and state law.

These proposals, taken separately, amount to:

1) A resolution for Baker County to unnecessarily declare that we’re governed by a constitution. We’re already aware of this. In fact, we’re governed according to federal and state constitutions that do not mention sheriffs!

2) A resolution to give undue influence over county affairs to an anti-government, extremist, minority group with known ties and relationships to white supremacist organizations. (Founder Richard Mack was a board member of the Oath Keepers and the concept of “county supremacy” originates with the far-right Posse Comitatus movement of the 1960s).

3) A resolution to subvert state and federal jurisdiction and grant the county sheriff outsized authority over the citizens of this county.

Taken together, these proposals are a subversion of the supremacy clause of the US Constitution, Article VI, Paragraph 2 which prohibits states from interfering with the federal government’s exercise of its constitutional powers.

This entire proposal is distracting the Baker County Commission from the very real job of guiding this county through the crisis of COVID as well as its ongoing work on the deep issues confronting our citizens: jobs, lack of health care, homelessness, food scarcity, and poverty.

Additionally, members of the Baker County United group openly flouted the mask mandate at the last public meeting on Dec. 15 and this mandate was not enforced by the commission. This is extremely unfortunate. Not only did it send the wrong signal but, as a parent of a medically fragile child, it made it impossible for me to attend the meeting on Jan. 12 to make my voice heard. I have no doubt that this tactic is intended to silence the voices of the majority of people in this county who take the recent COVID surge seriously and who oppose this proposal. If Baker County United wants to waste our time with a vote on this proposal, they should be required to gather the requisite number of signatures to get it on the ballot. (496 necessary signatures — 6% of 2020 votes cast for governor).

The Baker County Commission should table this resolution and move on to more important matters.

Jack Greenman

Halfway