The American Family Association of Kentucky, a right-wing political organization, is using a web form to send thousands of emails to members of the Kentucky legislature, urging them to impeach Governor Andy Beshear when they convene in January.
AFAKY is run by Dr. Frank Simon, a well-known promoter of right-wing causes, most especially anti-gay initiatives. Recent efforts by the Simon organization include defunding PBS due to their portrayal of gay people; impeaching Louisville mayor Greg Fischer; and taking a bus from Kentucky to D.C. to march for Trump.
The impeachment petition is hosted by Voter Voice, an online service that allows organizations of all persuasions to do email and messaging campaigns. The page says that Governor Beshear’s actions have overstepped his authority (even though courts have found otherwise), and that those actions are unconstitutional.
A notable clause in the petition is its reference to mask-wearing:
WHERAS, the Governor has mandated that people wear masks, when the face coverings do NOT prevent the spread of the corona virus, and actually cause harm to the wearers.
The petition machine, which can be manipulated
The online petition only requires the user to fill in their name (which could be made up) and an address. Based on the address, the system figures out which state representative and senator to send the email to. It provides a canned text, but allows the user to change it.
We tried sending a second email using the same address, but the system said we had to wait 24 hours. There is nothing, however, to prevent one person from sending hundreds of these, by simply changing the street address each time and making up a name – which we were able to do.
Uselessly filling up inboxes
Legislators report getting hundreds of these each, indicating that the Simon organization is responsible for tens of thousands of emails filling up the inboxes of our elected representatives. Besides forcing some staffer to read each of them, and then file or delete them, the petition itself is basically useless.
Multiple elected officials have told Forward Kentucky in the past that they pay no attention to online petitions, as they can be manipulated AND because they require so little effort on the part of the citizen. Personal letters and original emails have more impact, and calls to the Legislative Message Line have impact if there are enough of them. Personal visits have the most impact. But this petition? Should have no impact.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that the Republican leadership in the House will ignore it. They can certainly bring articles of impeachment, and probably get them passed. Considering Governor Beshear’s overall approval rating, especially when it comes to dealing with the pandemic, they might want to put this petition where it belongs:
in the digital trash can. 🗑