[The following is a guest editorial from Cara Schulz. Cara Schulz is the Managing Editor of the Pagan Newswire Collective and the Chair of Pagan Coming Out Day. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband, enjoys attending festivals, and has no tattoos.]
Let me first state that all persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. That said, things look grim for Councilman Dan Halloran (R), Queens, although he maintains his innocence. He, and five others, were arrested on charges of accepting bribes and attempting to rig an election. Halloran was specifically accused of setting up meetings with three other elected officials and handling bribes totaling thousands of dollars. The details, and guilt and innocence of each person, will come out in trial and I have no interest trying the case here.I’m also not naïve enough to think bribery and corruption aren’t rampant in all levels of our government. It may be as blatant as what the FBI claims Halloran engaged in or it may be more subtle and pervasive. How many of our politicians leave office poorer than when they were first elected? Dan Halloran wasn’t just any politician, though. While we’ve had, and will have, other Pagans and Heathens in elected office, none were as prominent as Halloran. None had been so publicly and brutally outed during their campaign, and yet still won, as Halloran. And none, once mocked and derided for their religion, had either of the two major parties stand by him as steadfastly as the Republican Party stood by Halloran. For the first time, mocking one of our religions not only didn’t work, it backfired. People of all, and no, religious persuasions said bigotry was not a winning campaign strategy and they voted Halloran into office.