The election of the former Florida Grand Dragon of the United Klans of America has not caused a major uproar in the city, but there have been rumblings.
'One-on-one, people say, ‘How did we let this happen?' ' City Commissioner Kathy Manry said. 'I've had a lot of reaction from people who have expressed major surprise at it.'
Like others, Manry said she is 'withholding judgment' on Rogers.
'I will be interested to see John Paul's reaction to our issues,' she said of the problems facing Lake Wales.
Some of the city's black leaders have the same reaction. While saying they are nervous about his past, they say they are waiting to see what happens in the future.
Clinton Horne, a black civic leader, said many black residents were 'snookered' into voting for Rogers during the April 1 city election.
'We were caught asleep at the switch on this thing,' he said.
Rogers said he wants to be judged on his recent actions, not his distant past.
'I'm not going to go rehash all that stuff and get into race baiting,' he said of his Klan background.
Rogers refused this week to answer any questions from The Ledger about his past activities in the Klan.
(See The Ledger's questions, below)
Rogers, 66, joined the Klan in 1963 or 1964, he told Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents seeking historical information on the Klan in 2005.
For many years, he headed the United Klans of America in Florida.
That ended in 1988, when the United Klans group went bankrupt after the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama won a $7 million judgment from the Klan for the family of a man who had been lynched several years earlier.
All the United Klan's assets were seized.
'I retired,' Rogers said.
Rogers said he served six years on the city's Zoning Board of Appeals.
'I treated everybody fair,' he said. 'I'll do the same thing on the City Commission. I don't let my personal views interfere with the basics.'
Many observers say it was the black vote that gave Rogers the win in this year's four-way race.
Several years ago, Rogers served as the campaign manager for black civic activist Booker Young in Young's unsuccessful attempt to win a commission seat.
This year, Young campaigned for Rogers, with the pair going door-to-door in the Northwest Area, which is predominantly black.
Young could not be reached for comment this week.
In the past, he has said he is aware of Rogers' Klan background, but he said Rogers has changed, will do a good job for the city and will treat everyone fairly.
Rogers said he and Young encouraged residents to vote by absentee ballots and helped explain how to obtain the ballots.
That effort obviously paid off.
Rogers was in third place after votes were counted from City Hall, which was the only polling place.
But he collected 282 absentee votes — far more than any other candidate — and that put him over the top.
He ended up with a total of 461 votes, which was 34.56 percent of the 1,334 votes cast.
Although no candidate received 50 percent of the vote, no runoff was required as a result of a referendum approved last year.
In his campaign, Rogers opposed a proposal to levy a fire fee on every property, rather than using property taxes to pay for the operation of the Fire Department. The proposal would hurt residents who now pay little or no property tax because of the $25,000 homestead exemption.
But the Klan background is the issue that still comes up.
'I don't know if the vote is a result of his being forgiven or forgotten,'' said Darryl Paulson, a political scientist from the University of South Florida's St. Petersburg campus.
'Years ago I actually had him speak to my Southern Politics class. 'He was very slick and disarming. They expected a flame thrower, but he didn't talk any of that. He just quietly gave his reasons for why he felt the races should be separated.'
Paulson said he doesn't know if Rogers has had a transformation, but he added that from Rogers' work in the Klan, he had mastered the skills of organization, such as his success with the absentee ballots in Lake Wales.
'But he is not the first former Klan member to seek political office,'' the professor said. The best-known is (U.S. Sen.) Robert Byrd of West Virginia. And the leading civil liberties advocate on the U.S. Supreme Court at the time, Hugo Black, had also been a member of the Klan.
'But that was during a period when that particular Klan wrapped itself more in patriotism and law and order. The United Klans was one of the more violent,' Paulson said.
David Smith, president of the Lake Wales branch of the NAACP, said he personally has no argument with Rogers.
'Believe it or not, John and I have never had any problems,' the retired Polk County sheriff's deputy said. 'He came up around Lake Wales, and I did, too.
'It doesn't bother me as long as he makes a fair decision. That's all I ask for.'
However, Smith noted the NAACP had nothing to do with Young's drive to assist a former Klan leader.
'If James Austin heard that, he'd turn over in his grave,' Smith said of the early civil rights leader in Lake Wales who fought to improve the black community.
'If we had known there was a drive out there in the black area to put Rogers in, we'd have been fighting it,' Smith said.
Horne said he has 'a little reservation' that Rogers' election will have a 'total negative effect' on the city's image.
'I would not look at it like it's the end of the world,' said Horne, who is a Lake Wales Charter School trustee.
Horne is upset with Young's actions in the campaign, saying Young 'snookered' many black residents into voting for Rogers.
Horne said a four-way race divided the vote too much and enabled Rogers to claim the victory.
However, Jerome Mack, a retired principal who has long been active in the black community, said he served on the Board of Appeals with Rogers.
'He tried to do justice for Lake Wales — for all the people,' Mack said.
'The fair play and attitude he brought to the board was really positive.'
'We all make mistakes,' Mack said of Rogers' past.
'I think he believes in fair play,' Mack said. 'Judge a man by his deeds. He did present some pretty solid evidence that he was a fair-minded individual.'
Lake Wales lawyer Robin Gibson, who initiated the effort to create the Charter School System in Lake Wales and serves as a trustee, said the issue is 'what John does from now on, not what he did 20 years ago.'
'As a raving optimist, I would say the fact that he had substantial support from the black community is encouraging,' Gibson said.
In general, Gibson said Lake Wales 'has been a community that came through the racial turmoil in good shape — our community works together very well.
'We have had positive race relations and it inured to our benefit.'
Gibson said three of the seven members of the Charter board of trustees are black, as well as Charter Superintendent Jesse Jackson.
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