Editor,

The June 15 statement by (the Indiana Democratic Party) on the election of Micah Beckwith as the Republican lieutenant governor nominee contains numerous inaccuracies and mischaracterizations.

One significant accusation is that Micah Beckwith banned books while serving on the Hamilton East Public Library Board. As a board member during the period when we sought to relocate age-inappropriate books from areas designated for children and teens, it is misleading for liberal progressive Democrats to claim that books were banned.

The term “Big Lie” refers to the tactic of repeating a known falsehood until it is accepted as truth by the public. This method, used by various regimes during World War II, has been employed by the left today. In this case, they are conflating the word “move” with “ban” over and over.

Let me be clear: only in Orwellian “1984” Newspeak would moving a book be called banning it. The books relocated by the board, along with the plan to review other books, were only intended to move age-inappropriate content from the children and teen sections to the general library shelves. These books remained in the electronic catalog and were accessible for checkout by any library patron with a library card, or to anyone wishing to view them in the library.

A final point that highlights the hypocrisy of the left regarding moving age-inappropriate books involved the previous (library director). She independently reviewed and moved an entire class of Manga graphic novels from the teen section to the general section due to cultural differences (i.e., graphic sex, language and violence) in those books. That action went unprotested and unreported in the press.

Ray F. Maddalone

Fishers