Ethics

Clarke Drops Frankenmuth Cross Campaign

By Ed Brayton

Lloyd Clarke has decided to drop his campaign to get a Lutheran cross removed from the city shield in Frankenmuth, Michigan. I just had a long conversation with him on the phone and he is both relieved and disappointed. He got absolutely no support from anyone in the community, which really weighed on him. The only support he got was from folks like me from elsewhere in the state, and our support may well have made things worse for him (in the sense that small towns like this tend to frown on "outsiders" coming in to tell them what to do).

He told me that he'd gotten a lot of heat from his friends and family, who were embarrassed to be associated with his actions. In particular he was concerned that his sister, who works for the county, might have her job put in jeopardy. But he really struggled with whether to go forward or not. In the end, he told me:

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on May 15, 2008 (boomark / email).