The End of an Era

This week, Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes announced he will not seek reelection in 2022 and he will finally ride off into the sunset, but probably not quietly. In Dusty’s case, you either die the hero or live long enough to become the villain. He was elected as the Hamilton County Auditor in 1990 during an era where electing Democrats to countywide office was unheard of. His election occurred because corruption by his predecessor and he spent $40,000 of his own money during his first race. In today’s money, $40,000 in 1990 would equate to roughly $83,151 in 2021 due to inflation. That’s a lot of money to drop on a county auditor’s race. At the time and for years to come, Dusty was the lone elected Democrat at the county level and he won elections with ease; he was unbeatable and he was the hero of the local Democratic party. Things eventually went south and by 2008 he was openly trashing Barack Obama and spreading rumors on Twitter that Obama wasn’t really born in America, a conspiracy that was started by Dusty’s hero, Donald Trump. Things eventually came to a head when Dusty began trashing the Black Lives Matter movement as well as spewing hateful comments on Twitter about the LGBTQ community. Dusty used his Catholic religion as a defense to the anti-trans comments as well as his disdain for politicians like Obama and Biden because by golly, they were pro-choice! Being pro-life was never really a deal breaker for local Democrats, especially for the moderate ones. However, it became clear Dusty was unable to adapt to the changing ideals within the Democratic Party and he got left behind. Simply being a ‘conservative Democratic’ white male wasn’t enough once Tim Burke stepped down and was unable to protect Dusty. In summary, Dusty was unable to adapt. Joe Biden was able to adapt and grow after a career of gaffs and ignorant comments but Hamilton County’s own Dusty Rhodes was unable to do that.

Dusty was a believer in the popular “Birtherism” conspiracy theory that suggested Barack Obama was not an actual US Citizen.

The local Democratic Party eventually formed a subcommittee to deal with Dusty Rhodes and I happened to be on it. My interactions with Dusty over the years were limited but mostly pleasant. I ran for State Rep in 2018 when Dusty was also running for Auditor and there were a few things I noticed. In-person, he was extremely friendly and personable. However, there were things about Dusty that turned people off. And the sad reality is, I have some of those same traits. When Dusty fired up the old Twitter app, he pissed people off. Who isn’t guilty of firing off a few bad tweets on Twitter? I suppose the main difference is, Dusty’s bad tweets revolved around homophobia and borderline racism. The subcommittee eventually decided that Dusty would be in “bad standing” with the party and would never receive another Democratic party endorsement again. Due to the bylaws, that was all the subcommittee could do. However, it appears that it was enough for Dusty to call it quits and not seek an unprecedented 9th term. In addition to that, I think the possibility of facing another Democratic challenger that he’s been friends with over the years was also another consideration that forced his hand.

If you ever wondered what a ‘Twitter Ratio’ looked like, feast your eyes on this.

The reality of the situation may be unpopular, but here it is: Dusty Rhodes was not a bad auditor. The website was decent-to-good and his office is known as being helpful and accessible. There were never any instances of corruption and he carried out his duty as a public official as effectively as he could. Looking past his job performance, his personal opinions ended up being extremely toxic and hurt a lot of people he was elected to represent. It’s entertaining to see Dusty go toe-to-toe with people on Twitter, but is it really professional? Many of his tweets happen on “county time” during the hours of his actual job as auditor. With all of that being said, I think we have seen the last “conservative Democrat” elected to county-wide office and the last “conservative Democrat” hopefully endorsed by our local Democratic party. The case of Dusty Rhodes is a result of growing pains within the Democratic party and the ever-growing tug-of-war between the establishment/corporate wing and the more progressive/liberal wing. Looking across our city, county, state and country we will find numerous instances of the proxy wars happening within the Democratic party, but I’m glad to say we can chalk this one up as a win for the good guys. Because our elected officials serve everyone, despite their race, country of origin, religious beliefs or lack thereof and their gender. I look forward to seeing the next Democratic County auditor who respects women, African Americans and the entire LGBTQ community.