National leader encourages people of faith to support Kendall

When the Dean of Liberty University School of Law speaks, at least since 2006, it is usually to aspiring attorneys eager to learn the law; but, in the case of Mathew Staver, JD, it could well be most of the United States Courts of Appeal, or even the Supreme Court of the United States, where he has argued the Constitution, twice.

In a letter to local Historic City News, Staver says that as someone who has been active in the culture war in the realm of civil litigation, he has learned that it is often easier to assist good leaders in standing for principle than it is to make bad leaders do the right thing.

“People of faith must seize every opportunity to see individuals elected to office who will do the right thing, regardless of consequences. That is why I am pleased that Kim Kendall is running for St. Johns County Commission,” Staver wrote. “Kim has fought for issues like educational policy, as well as the unequivocal right of valedictorians to honor God at their graduation through prayer, or other expressions of personal religious belief. She has worked alongside Liberty Counsel in hopes that St. Johns County students would have the right to pray at graduation.”

Staver, who is founder and chairman of the Liberty Counsel, is endorsing Kendall as an individual who believes Kim Kendall is not running on platitudes, but on promises to fight back for our freedom as Americans on a local level.

“Kim is running to see positive change in the county,” Staver continued in his letter. “She is not one of those standard politicians who only talks about how things should be … she rolls up her sleeves and actually works to make things better. Kim Kendall has served in the trenches at the local level, taken what she has learned and applied it.”

Staver may be known to some St Johns County residents because of his assistance to Duval County in a precedent-setting case against the ACLU. Through the Liberty Counsel, Staver represented the defendant, Duval County, in the Adler vs. Duval County School Board case.

Liberty Counsel won the right of students to pray or give religious messages at graduation. The case established the legal principle that public schools are free to adopt a policy that permits students or other speakers to present secular or religious messages, including prayer, at commencement ceremonies. Staver’s services were contributed without charge.

“To allow a variety of viewpoints at graduation, except religious viewpoints, is neither American nor is it consistent with the Constitution,” Staver said after the decision. “While schools should not force people to pray, neither should they force them not to pray.”

Kendall says she agrees. “It’s the students’ Constitutional right to pray if they so choose, and the Liberty Counsel has offered their services, without charge, to our county if there is ever a lawsuit against a student who does,” Kendall told local reporters. “It is this kind of work that makes me so appreciative of Mat Staver’s endorsement.”

The Republican Primary is August 26th, with early voting beginning Aug 15th. Even though Kendall resides in District 2, all St. Johns County residents vote in the County Commission elections. As a Republican candidate for District 2, she has approved and paid for publication of this notice. For more information on Kendall’s campaign, visit www.VoteKimKendall.com.