THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE
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by Michael Monks
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| Dara McDowell |
The race for Covington Mayor will have just two candidates, City Commissioners Sherry Carran and Steve Casper, as Monte Casino mother of eight Dara McDowell has decided to exit the race. McDowell told The River City News that she reached her decision after a Monday night conversation with her husband. The home-school advocate and self-described former homosexual created a firestorm at The River City News Facebook page when she announced that her top campaign priorities would include moral issues and what she dubbed the homosexual agenda. After weeks of continued online debate with readers of The River City News, McDowell conceded that she wants to learn more about the very gay people that motivated her campaign platform.
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"I just feel I want to have integrity in this race and I don't think I would be a good candidate because of the moral issues, because I don't think I would represent the homosexual community the way I should, because they do have a plight," McDowell said Tuesday afternoon. Virtually no other citizen openly supported McDowell's declaration that Covington was faced with moral depravity over her perception that the city was endorsing homosexuality through its human rights ordinance that offers protections to gay citizens, annual gay pride festivals, and the recent passage of domestic partnership benefits that would cover the same-sex partners of city employees.
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"For me, I do want to advance the city economically," McDowell said. "I do feel like I have some good ideas, some very good ideas because Covington is such an untapped resource. The sky is the limit as far as what we could do. I do feel like I had a vision for the city but the moral issue held me back. I am deficient in that area and I do need to work on that but I'm not ready to yet."
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"I realize that I am being biased, I can see that in myself and I do want to be that way. I do need to come to terms with that myself and I recognize that."
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McDowell ran for Kenton County Judge-Executive in 2010 as an independent and the only opponent of Republican Steve Arlinghaus who won the election with 75% of the vote. In this year's election, McDowell engaged her detractors directly online prompting what could amount to some soul-searching of her own viewpoints. "I do recognize that I need to read up on the plight of the homosexual movement, that there are some abuses and some oppression going on that need to be address and I am for addressing those," she said. "I just feel like I need to be more dictated and more balanced in my approach."
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Her decision, however, does not reflect a complete change of heart on the issue of homosexuality. "(The agenda) is basically masterminded by Harvard graduate individuals that just have an agenda to basically promote homosexuality and that's what I'm against. When I was a homosexual, I just believed that I was born that way and that kept me trapped in that and I don't want that for anyone. I feel like I am so much better off in understanding that was a choice. It is a lie that you don't have a choice, but it comes across as hateful and not accepting and I don't want that to happen."
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McDowell intends to further her studies on the issue of homosexuality by reading her Bible more, asking God for insights, and talking with pastors and other Christians. She hopes to focus more on what she calls a "grace-oriented" approach. "It's a better message," she said. "I tend to be too religious in that area and I need to clean that up because that is a sin for me, too much religiosity. It's not worse than homosexuality but it's still not right."
Yawn.........
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