GEORGETOWN, Ky. (LEX 18) — Georgetown city council member Karen Tingle-Sames is facing public backlash for a post she published on Facebook this week.
The post sparked a seemingly endless debate that played out in the comment section. Among those reading the comments was Laranda Smith, an activist in the community.
"I feel like it speaks volumes of the community," Smith said. "A lot of the people who commented agree with her sentiments and that's scary."
In a Zoom conversation with LEX 18 Tuesday, Smith and three other activists said they were disgusted by the post and demanded that Tingle-Sames resign.
"I don't care about somebody having an opinion," Camille Overstreet said. "But as an elected official, you have that added responsibility. And you should feel the weight of that on your shoulders and you should carry it with you, because they have to work in the best interest of the community, and that's not what she's doing," she said.
Tom Prather, the mayor of Georgetown, said he cannot compel Tingle-Sames to resign but he did not shy away from letting the community know where he stood.
"My post was simply in support of the democratic process and a statement that democracy works in exactly this way at the ballot box," Prather told LEX 18.
Prather was one of hundreds who commented on the post, noting the picture of the Democratic ticket celebrating on stage "makes me very proud, frankly. Elections are won at the ballot box. That's the way democracy works."
When LEX 18 reached Tingle-Sames at her place of work, she declined to sit down for an interview but she said she stands by the content of her post, including her belief that Biden does not "represent Godly values."
However, she said she could have written it in a more eloquent way. Tingle-Sames has since deleted the post.
“This has been a learning opportunity for me and I have already reached out to several [people] that were opposed to my comments so I can understand more clearly their positions,” Tingle-Sames said in a statement to LEX 18.
