Recent behavior of local Republican leadership gives us some insight into what the present Republican Party has become.
Clark County GOP’s censure of Commissioner Marc Boldt for the sin of being willing to compromise in order to get things accomplished puts Republican orthodoxy ahead of the interests of residents. In order to return to the good graces of the party, Boldt, like Galileo, who had to denounce scientific truth to preserve religious orthodoxy, must go before the Republican leadership’s “Inquisition” and recant his “heretical” views.
Two “moderate” (i.e. “reasonable”) Clark County Republican Party board members — Nelson Holmberg and Troy Van Dinter — quit the board over the “Boldt flap.” In a March 29 Columbian story, “Boldt flap prompts two to quit GOP board,” Holmberg commented, “Some members of the board are right wing and refuse to even consider another point of view.” Van Dinter commented, “It’s bad enough to have Republicans vs. Democrats. We shouldn’t have Republicans vs. Republicans.”
The contentious GOP convention that failed to fill the county slate of delegates to the state presidential nominating convention was another example of Republican inability to compromise with even other Republicans.