Driving a wedge through the GOP, sanity is gabber’s No. 1 priority

Harley David Belew, the mustachioed hard-right Kerr County talker, has been on the attack the last couple of weeks and through his journey of abuse, he’s stumbled with his unique brand of dumb. 

Belew, who inconveniently sits on the Kerr County Commissioners’ Court, has verbally assaulted Kerrville City Councilmember Joe Herring Jr, calling him an arrogant liar. He implied that Herring was a partisan supporter, seemingly stretching the word’s meaning to suit a narrative he had concocted for radio land paranoia. 

At issue was Herring’s support of City Council candidates Layng Guerriero and Jeff Harris. In an email, Herring said he was concerned that Councilmember Roman Garcia and candidate Barbara Dewell-Ferguson wanted to see Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library librarians prosecuted over books deemed pornographic by the right-wing group “We The People, Liberty in Action.” Belew called that a lie. Belew omitted that Kerrville Police did take a criminal report involving child porn allegations — one they didn’t pursue. Garcia’s posture focused on disciplinary action against the librarians. Dewell-Ferguson’s position is more focused on relocating books. 

Belew smeared his 2016 court opponent, Dr. William Rector, to keep the heat on by calling him part of Kerrville’s swamp. But his favorite target is Guerriero and Harris. 

For someone with the tagline, “low tolerance for stupid people,” Belew doesn’t necessarily adhere to his mantra because he repeatedly utters reckless and nonsensical gibberish. We could ignore his likely low-rated programming in a perfect world, but he’s also an elected official who requires attention.

Belew is determined to get Roman Garcia re-elected to the Kerrville City Council, and Barbara Dewell Ferguson elected. To do that, he has to paint Guerriero and Harris as Democrats. To do it, Belew has to lie — over and over again. As cynical as we can be about politics, the fact that one of our elected officials spends his mornings assassinating the character of his fellow residents with lies should be disqualifying. 

In one segment: 

• Belew said that Guerriero and Harris relied on the Democratic machine in Kerr County to get elected. Last we checked, the Democrats haven’t been successful in getting people elected. More importantly, the City Council election is nonpartisan; meaning parties shouldn’t matter. 
• He has described Harris and Guerriero as Republicans In Name Only, or RINOS, and that’s a clear lie.
• Belew attacked Guerriero’s involvement in the proposed Guadalupe River Center — a nonprofit effort. Belew made it sound like Guerriero had a financial interest in getting it in front of the City Council. 
• Belew has had to carefully navigate the assaults on Harris because he’s a former U.S. Marine. He’s laughably tried to suggest that Harris’ experience doesn’t qualify him for the job, arguing Dewell-Ferguson is more qualified. Harris is a community banker and stalwart. 
• He spent a lot of time in a recent show complaining that we’ve gotten rid of “meritocracy,” which Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as a “system, organization, or society in which people are chosen and moved into positions of success, power, and influence based on their demonstrated abilities and merit.” Guerriero and Harris are both achievers, but in Belew’s world, that doesn’t matter when it comes to people he disagrees with. Because in that world you can still live at home.
• He argued that Garcia and Dewell-Ferguson didn’t have the same level of organization, thanks to the Democrats supporting Guerriero and Harris. He failed to recognize that Garcia and Dewell-Ferguson had the backing of the Republican Party — thanks to extremists in the party. 
• And calling Harris and Guerriero swamp creatures is weird because Belew is more involved in the swamp than the Kerrville City Council. Anyone who gets a $60,000 year in salary, with benefits, retirement and minimal expectations, feels more swampy. 

But here we are. It’s a shame that Belew’s lies don’t get a going over by the Ranch Radio Group, but his litany of advertisers likely allows him some corporate leeway or looking the other way. 

Belew represents a hardline, no-compromise approach, and he’d rather fight culture wars than get stuff done to move Kerr County forward. That’s precisely the case with the nonpartisan Kerrville City Council race. 

And what makes Belew’s mouth particularly problematic is it suggests a level of dysfunction and rancor that’s not true. The intention is a step-and-repeat of disinformation to make Kerrville look bad — a strange position and unfortunate.