Drake’s comment a message to Tea Party

Is Ron Drake a member of the Tea Party? More importantly, does Arlington Heights want a Tea Party village president?

Ron Drake was asked by the Daily Herald about the current level of local sales tax. He responded, “If there were only a harbor and a load of tea nearby!” Clearly, this was a message to any potential Tea Party voters that “I’m your guy.”

When Ron Drake ran for Congress in Arizona, one of his supporters was U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, a member of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus. Trent Franks has expressed many opinions that fall well outside reasonable and mainstream thought. He was quoted as saying, “Far more of the African American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by the policies of slavery.” He was also quoted as saying, “President Obama is the greatest threat to the United States Constitution — and one of the nation’s worst enemies.”

A reasonable person would repudiate this kind of crazy talk. Ron Drake, to my knowledge, has not.

Joe Walsh the candidate seemed like a reasonable pro-business Republican when he was running for office, much like Ron Drake. Then Joe Walsh was elected, and we all know what happened from there. He was no longer the reasonable candidate, but instead morphed into a bomb-throwing extremist who liked to yell at his constituents.

What would we get if we elected Ron Drake as village president? A reasonable pro-business executive, or an extremist with an Tea Party agenda? Arlington Heights deserves to know the answer to that question.

Michael E. Fredian

Arlington Heights