To the Editor:
In a disappointing statement that was only intended to mislead and make Madison County residents less safe, Thomas Haine has shown that he intends to use his official office for pure political purposes in an attempt to advance his own public career. The statement from Thomas Haine that he will not prosecute nor charge an individual with a “crime” for refusing to follow the state’s COVID-19 mandates is a fully political ploy intended to deceive the public.
It took Mr. Haine less than a month to play politics with his official duties, as Mr. Haine knows, that the state mandates and the Edwardsville orders are not criminal issues, they are civil in nature. Mr. Haine is playing politics with the lives of people in Madison County, rather than fulfilling his duty and obligation to protect the public.
Perhaps Mr. Haine should spend more time working with our local leaders to develop strategies to lower our skyrocketing COVID-19 positivity rate, rather than issuing baseless and purely political press releases. With vaccines on the way, now is the time to be even more vigilant in trying to suppress this virus. To combat the deaths and destruction COVID-19 is causing our County we need real leaders, not someone already thinking about his next campaign.
Randy Harris, Madison County Democratic Party Chair