The Clark County Republican Central Committee has not voted to censure Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas. It has voted to discuss the topic. It is unlikely that the Jan. 8 vote of precinct committee officers, or (PCOs, to discuss censure represents the majority of the PCOs. The topic was not on the official agenda circulated ahead of time. The total PCOs voting was less than 50 percent of the 226 precincts. The vote was 59 for and 49 against discussing the issue, not a ringing endorsement of the “censure” concept.
Nor was this half-hearted vote representative of Clark County Republican voters. In the last election, our congresswoman overwhelmingly defeated one of her primary opponents, Michael Delavar, who got 13 percent of the vote. Herrera Beutler then went on to defeat her Democratic opponent with 62 percent of the vote.
In 2014, “We the People” spoke loud and clear at the ballot box that we approve of Congresswoman Herrera Beutler. Of course, the message is not that each voter agreed with all of her votes. Most of us realize that no elected official is going to satisfy us on all points.
Censuring Herrera Beutler would accomplish the opposite of the intended objective. I am contacting every fellow PCO to make that point.
