Elected officials take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees freedom of speech and petitioning the government as rights.

We have a case of some who speak out and petition on an issue that the commissioners don't find themselves in agreement with. That does not give the commissioners the right to abuse their power to punish them.by denying them a share of public grant monies. In fact what they've done can be blatant misconduct of office.

Perhaps these two commissioners should take a few moments to think this out, perhaps remember that they are supposed to be representative of all in their constituency, and try and build unity instead of division, just like they, as elected officials are supposed to do.