Vancouver resident Ann Donnelly offers her perspective on the Clark County Republican Party’s decision not to recognize Third Congressional District candidate

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com

I agree with Julia Dawn Seaver’s assessment of the vote Republican PCOs took recently to deny “recognition as a Republican” to long-time noted Republican Leslie Lewallen. That vote will harm Joe Kent and the entire Republican Party. It already has done so. I hear other Republicans and Independents in our community commenting on such an unrealistic and narrow-minded move. Democrats supporting Marie Gluesenkamp Perez are crowing.

All of this dissension is reflected onto Joe Kent, who doesn’t deserve it. At least one articulate Kent supporter at the meeting disagreed with the majority vote, realizing how unfair it would be to deny recognition to someone who just a few years before had been recognized as a Republican when she ran for Camas City Council. When I had a chance to speak, I recalled hearing from Lewallen how active she had been in the Federalist Society, meeting extensively with a hero of both hers and mine – Antonin Scalia.

Some poorly informed PCOs believe such a move to deny Lewallen recognition will keep Lewallen off the ballot, which is of course absurd. If she so chooses, she has the freedom – yes, the freedom – to file for election as a Republican. She does not need the benefits of recognition very much, such as her literature in the Fair Booth and Republican HQ, and access to our mailing lists. She can duplicate those functions herself.

As a party, we Republicans believe in personal freedom and civic freedom. Yet some who voted in the majority to turn their backs on Lewallen adopted a totalitarian approach. Hero patriot Joe Kent does not deserve to be represented in that manner.

Ann Donnelly 
Vancouver

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