It’s very interesting to me to see the local Republican Party, particularly Elizabeth Rohr, write a letter of support to reelect Sean Swope recently, and the biggest accomplishment Rohr can focus in on over Swope’s term is that Swope subverted the state and needlessly risked our public tax coffers while debasing the county’s logo and abusing public facilities to peddle misinformation in pursuit of his personal agenda.
In fact, Swope publicly posted what appeared to me to be a veiled threat back then that if he didn’t get his corn dog-loving way there would be a revolt.
Our communities have had to deal with Mr. Swope’s stochastic terrorism as well as incidents of hate or harm occurring shortly thereafter more than a few times since that Corn Dog Revolt back in 2021. I understand if enjoying a corn dog at the fair is the single biggest issue Elizabeth Rohr found important enough to remember in all these years, but I hope she can appreciate how fortunate she is that a hot dog on a stick dipped in batter and deep fried is her biggest concern in life that she needs Swope to save her from.
The thing I still don’t understand when the Lewis County Republican Party keeps dragging this issue up years later though is that state Rep. Peter Abbarno can be spotted in the crowd at the courthouse rally, though he appears to have avoided media interaction that day for some reason, and then later that week he fully embraced the successful outcome in a public victory lap with Svenson and Swope on the stage at Sandrini Field — presumably once he was confident of that outcome and enough public support behind it. Yet Abbarno is never mentioned in any of these conversations as the same staunch defender holding the line of Rohr’s perceived injustices as Swope is.
Abbarno is also up for reelection this year and in need of support. It’s unfair of Elizabeth Rohr and Lewis County Republican Party to tout these accomplishments for one public official when another official was there right alongside him and deserves just as much credit.
Kyle Wheeler
Toledo
