Selma City Councilwoman Bennie Ruth Crenshaw is either philosophically or intellectually dishonest in her approach to civil rights.

Crenshaw came out against having an election for the Ward 3 representative. She wants to appoint a council member, just as she did when a vacancy came up in Ward 1.

She claims she is worried about the cost of holding an election in a time when the city is stretched for money. The argument sounds good, but knowing Crenshaw, it just doesn’t hold.

Crenshaw is a master at sleight-of-hand. While she objects to an election for the voters of this ward to select a representative for money’s sake, she is spending the most money on travel to go to the National League of Cities meeting in Denver this year.

During budget time, a majority of the city council voted to cut its travel budget to $18,000 and to divide that money evenly among the nine of them. Working out the math, the division means each council member would have $2,000 travel money to work with during this fiscal year.

The National League of Cities meeting in Denver is the big trip this year. Crenshaw turned in her reservations and went $300 over the limit. Her co-council members stayed well within their budgets.

With the money issue aside, it’s hard to believe that someone who advocates so hard for African-Americans to succeed in Selma that Crenshaw would deny someone the right to vote for their own representative in a ward election.

Selma is the voting rights capital of the United States. More people internationally know about the Selma-to-Montgomery march than know about Bunker Hill. It would seem if Crenshaw were honest philosophically and intellectually she would see Hades freeze over before she would disfranchise more than a couple of thousand people who would theoretically go to the polls to cast their votes for the person they want to represent them on the city council.

Crenshaw is not against affirmative action programs. She has made that clear in her constant questioning of Mayor George Evans about African-American workers on city projects, especially those using bond issue money.

Apparently, Crenshaw does not trust the ability of voters in Ward 3 to select a proper representative to the city council. That’s a shame.

Voting is precious. It is a right people sacrificed for for years and years. There is a way to encourage participation of African-American candidates and voters and this can be done without having to discriminate against another set of candidates and voters.