Update. Ron Beaty didn’t show up to face a standing room only crowd who came from all over Cape Cod to confront him. Despite his excuses of a “family emergency” during the meeting he was tweeting about the weather. The Cape Cod Times captured the meeting in a photo spread that leads with his empty desk and includes photos of people who spoke.

Please take the actions described below:

This past week, Ron Beaty has enjoyed local and national headlines for abhorrent behavior. Again.

It’s become a regular pattern of embarrassment for many of us here on Cape Cod, as he is a one of the Commissioners who represents Barnstable County.

In October of 2017, Beaty was rebuked for using his twitter account – which, at the time, identified him as a Barnstable County Commissioner with no caveats- to post a tweet denigrating the #MeToo movement.

Last spring, Beaty gained national attention for tweeting insults to and about David Hogg, Parkland school-shooting survivor turned gun-sense activist. Back then, calls for Beaty to apologize and step down were ignored and he seemed to enjoy the attention and support he got from like-minded people on the social media platform.

Like a child looking for attention any way he can get it, Beaty has pushed the boundaries of decency, again.  This week, he posted a homophobic tweet, that seemed to refer to two Cape Cod legislators.  He is once again garnering negative attention while representing Cape Cod.  Many of us have reacted the same way:

“What can we do about this guy?”

Public calls from local officials  and state officials for him to resign fall on deaf ears. Fellow Republicans’ admonitions and calls for him to resign ring hollow, as they are just words with no action.

County government is organized by a charter, which is a home-rule (created by the constituents of the government being developed) document like a constitution. An initial charter, and any substantial changes after it is established, has to be passed by voters and then approved by the state legislature.

Last year we supported a petition asking for a recall provision. Adding a recall provision to the County charter was discussed after his twitter assault on the #MeToo movement, and is in a package of changes being proposed to a charter commission that will present recommendations to the Cape Cod Assembly of Delegates. and will follow the process involving voters and the state legislature.  In other words, it appears a recall petition/election is not a tool available to us right now.

1. Request and support censure by both the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates and Commission. This would be non-binding, but is the message is important and would be in place the next time he seeks national negative attention on Twitter or anywhere else. Contact your County Assembly-person linked from here.  Contact the Commissioners here.
2. We need to insist that the state and local Republican organizations do more than speak out against him. He must be formally censured and if possible, his membership to any of these clubs or organizations should be revoked. Will they support him if he wins a primary in 2020? Contact the state party: https://www.massgop.com/contact

 

In response to the few who have suggested that we are giving him too much attention, unfortunately, he has managed to get national attention on more than one occasion for his insulting, intolerant and abusive tweets.  We must not ignore this. It reflects badly on Cape Cod. We have to decide whether his comments are representative of who we are. If he removes references to his elected position, then they are his own comments. But without the identity as an elected official, he won’t get the national attention he seems to enjoy.  It’s a circuitous, but overall our reputation suffers.

Stories – some national outlets – about Beaty’s (most recent) Bad Behavior:

• MA GOP official who threatened to kill George H. W. Bush cites Trump in refusal to apologize for anti-LGBT remarks
• GOP official says it’s OK to attack gays because Trump does it too
• Official Cites Donald Trump to Defend Tweet Suggesting Gay Politicians ‘Too Self-Absorbed’ to Govern
• Cape Cod Commissioner Under Fire for Social Media Post on Gay Politicians
• Has County Commissioner Ron Beaty Finally Jumped the Shark?
• Mass. Republican under fire for anti-gay post blames Trump
• County Officials, State Lawmakers Call For Ron Beaty To Resign
• Barnstable official criticized over Twitter poll asking if gay politicians are ‘too self-absorbed’ to be effective

---

(If you see errors or omissions please contact CapeCodWomenforChange@gmail.com)

Sign up for our newsletter here.

Sign up to receive posts by email with the link in the right column.

---

Help us keep this movement growing with a donation to Cape Cod Women for Change.

DONATE HERE

Every little bit helps!

---

The ads below are part of a program that helps defray the cost of this website. We do not choose the products, services or subjects of the ads.