To the Editor:

An elected official’s role, whether it be on the school board, in the state senate, or in any other public office, is to serve its community as a representative of its constituents. It seems so many of our politicians have forgotten this vital component to their role as an elected official and two recent viewpoints published by Iredell Free News are evidence that this is hitting close to home.

Sen. Vickie Sawyer’s effort to educate her constituents on the complexity of addressing traffic and infrastructure was clouded by a full paragraph dedicated to negatively labeling her own constituents.

It was also clouded by incomplete supporting information for her change in stance regarding a moratorium. It would be helpful to know what information she has gained that made her change her stance on this issue. Perhaps it was this law she mentioned that would require the Town of Mooresville to take on the financial burden of road construction should it issue a moratorium, but what law is this?

Where can I find this and read this for myself? She also left us hanging in regard to the Cornelius resolution. How is this different than a moratorium? Was it effective there? Is this something we can consider here?

Then we had Todd Carver, an elected school board member, also take time to write a viewpoint. The viewpoint could have focused on the greatest challenges facing Iredell-Statesville Schools that would be important to consider as elections approach. He could have taken time to share what he learned from the past four years on the board and share how incoming board members could utilize that knowledge to improve the schools or better serve the community in their board member role. Instead, he used his viewpoint to apply negative labels to his own constituents, people who have taken time to attend board meetings and share the perspectives of people in the I-SS community. He used his viewpoint to promote particular candidates — not by highlighting their qualifications or sharing how they’ve stepped up in the past to support our children and schools but instead by shedding a negative light on their opponents.

It is disappointing that many elected officials have forgotten that they have been selected by the people to be a representative of the people, and they must always strive to do that with integrity. Though no elected official can ever vote in alignment with a diverse constituent base, the least they can do is refrain from insulting and labeling those constituents who disagree with them.

Theresa Knight
Mooresville