Clerks' duties are sacred, not holier-than-thou. They sometimes forget that

In the just-over-quarter century that I have written about government, I have found that clerks are the most important people.

Even these 'clerks' are more logical. And that's scary

They are the ones with access to information about many crucial services that government performs. They are the ones who are the only government officials most people even deal with.

CLERKS CAN MAKE access to government all-the-more easier to have, or as overly rigid and complex as they want to make it.

So I’m not the least bit surprised that the county clerk of Rowan County, Ky., is capable of stirring up a stink that has her rural county in the national news.

That clerk is Kim Davis, and she’s the one who in recent years has “found Jesus” and decided to live her life in an overly-religious manner. Which she now thinks she must apply to the way she does her job.

She is the one who says she doesn’t care what the Supreme Court of the United States says – non-heterosexual couples who try to get a marriage license from her office so they can be married in the eastern Kentucky county aren’t going to get it.

THE HIGH COURT specifically ordered her to comply on Monday, only to have her say “no” on Tuesday – offering an explanation that she thinks having her name on the marriage license will condemn her soul to eternal hellfire!

She’s going to have to appear before a federal judge on Thursday, and it will be interesting to see whether that judge has the nerve to lock her up for contempt – or merely impose a huge fine on her county until they put pressure on Davis to act appropriately.

Yes, I say appropriate. Because I don’t see how a government official ought to be imposing anything on the public because of their own personal religious beliefs. Just as I don’t think it appropriate to impose my own thoughts on spiritual matters on others.

Religion is a very personal matter. It ought to remain that way.

NOW I DON’T want her to get locked up in a jail cell. Personally, I think she’d take that as reinforcement – her being incarcerated for Jesus. I don’t want her to gain such personal satisfaction.

I’d rather see a judge impose some sort of daily fine against Rowan County – the entity that employs her as an elected official. Which means she cannot be fired – the people picked her.

And in all honesty, I wouldn’t be surprised if when she comes up for re-election, a majority of residents in that isolated Kentucky county probably would vote “yes” to retain her. That is probably why local county government officials haven’t been quick to condemn her. They don’t want the backlash.

But a fine from a federal judge – something in the way of an amount that would drive the county broke rather quickly – is something that would get government attention.

PARTICULARLY IF IT is one of those fines that accumulates on a daily basis for every day that Davis continues to refuse to enforce the law – as interpreted by the high court itself.

Do that, and we’ll all be surprised by how quickly the Rowan County officials convene in a special meeting and find reason to pressure Davis to resign – then replace her with a person who will enforce the law without believing they’re on their way to Hell for it.

All I know is that learning of Davis makes me all the more appreciative of one now-former clerk I used to deal with. She was a stickler for the “letter of the law” and liked the idea that she could force people to file formal Freedom of Information Act requests for even routine details.

But that “letter of the law” attitude also made her feel that she was obligated to fulfill every request possible – she’d usually hand over the requested information the moment she got the FOIA forms.

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EXTRA: Three more counties, 96 to go

Three more counties across Illinois let it be known Thursday they would have their clerks start issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, and one more county said they may be at it by week's end.

Macon County (the Decatur area) is the one that may be up and running soon, while Jackson County (the Carbondale area, which means Southern Illinois University's presence), Cass County (a rural place located northwest of Springfield whose most notable feature is the Jim Edgar fish and wildlife park), and St. Clair County (which is half of the Illinois-based suburbs of St. Louis) are the places that are now prepared to issue licenses.

OF COURSE, THAT still leaves some eight dozen counties that are refusing to get along. Some of the reasons I have read in various reports are laughable.

Such as the counties where the clerks say they're too busy to address the issue because of the upcoming March 18 primary elections to the ones who don't see the stupidity in having a situation where Illinois gets a split personality on this issue.

Then, there are the ones who will wait until June 1 before they feel they're forced to do it. I'm curious to see which ones try to find legal reasons to try to hold out even longer than that.

Which Illinois county will become the government equivalent of the Boston Red Sox, who when they signed infielder Pumpsie Green in 1959 became the last ball club to take a black ballplayer on their roster. A stigma that still gets used against the Red Sox, from time to time.

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Gay marriage issue puts Illinois in a “stupid” zone – for the time being

A part of me wonders which predicament is more embarrassing; back when Illinois was holding out against the concept of gay couples being able to marry? Or the current one in which some people are able to marry and others not?

On marriage, three counties down -- 99 to go

That’s our current status. We’re a split state. It is the reason why there have been significant numbers of people from outside Cook County who have come to our wonderful home county to get a marriage license.

THIRTY-ONE SUCH COUPLES from the rest of Illinois (including from Champaign, Dewitt, Kendall, LaSalle and Winnebago counties) made the trip to Chicago to get a license – which means their actual wedding ceremonies will be held here.

Along with couples from Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan, along with Colorado, Kentucky, South Carolina and Texas.

We’re becoming a magnet for this kind of activity. It seems the situation of last year – where the mayor of Minneapolis could rub it in Chicago’s face that gay couples from here were venturing further north to his city to have their weddings – is over.

Now come June 1, this situation will end. Because that is when the new law permitting such marriages in Illinois will take effect. It’s only in place now in Cook County because somebody sued.

ON THE VERY legitimate grounds that the courts had already permitted some marriages for couples who were not expected to live long enough to see June 1. Why only permit it for gay couples with health issues? It does come across as discriminatory.

So now, gay couples can marry in Chicago, which is causing the rush of other people to come to us. If not for the fact that this will spread statewide this summer, we’d probably have some political people arguing that it ought to be illegal for people to travel to Chicago just to get a marriage license.

It was this very split that caused the Illinois attorney general’s office to try to provide some guidance on the issue – because in at least one county (Macon, which houses Decatur), a state’s attorney advised the clerk to do nothing to issue such licenses now. Better to wait until June 1 when the issue is forced upon them.

Which goes against the practices in Champaign County, where the county clerk is now willing to issue a marriage license to all, and McLean County, where the clerk will start doing so on March 24.

OF COURSE, THOSE counties’ focus is on university towns (University of Illinois and Illinois State University, respectively) with significant numbers of people from other places living there for a stint of their lives. They’d be the obvious candidates to follow the lead.

All of this split is due to the fact that the lawsuit that allowed Cook County to issue such licenses immediately was filed in federal court solely against Cook County. Which is why everyone else is eager to claim the ruling does not apply to them.

The attorney general on Tuesday issued a statement saying that county lines ought not to decide whether someone can get a marriage license without having to make a special trip.

But that they also need to consult with their respective state’s attorneys before deciding how to act in coming weeks.

IT ISN’T ALWAYS a matter of consistency. Take the whole matter concerning “concealed carry” of weapons. Some rural state’s attorneys were so eager to have the concept as quickly as possible that they made it clear they weren’t going to prosecute violations of firearms laws.

Just as I’m sure there are some county prosecutors who will wish to hold out as long as they can on the marriage license issue – somehow believing they will gain some bonus points in the minds of ideologues.

Which is why our “stupid” split will endure for another three months – and in the minds of some for a lot longer than that.

June 1 can’t come soon enough – and not just because I’m disgusted with the Arctic-like temperatures we have experienced this winter. The heart of the baseball season will be up and running by then!

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