News / Opinion / Columns

Jayne: Hey local Republicans, a house divided cannot stand

By Greg Jayne, Columbian Opinion Page Editor

Published: July 3, 2016, 6:02am

I sure hope they know what they’re doing.

I know, I know, that probably sounds familiar. Almost three years ago, I wrote a column questioning whether the Clark County Republican Party has any clue about how to win converts instead of torching heretics. About how to rally support instead of burning bridges. About how to actually govern instead of throwing playground hissy fits.

It was a fair concern then; it is an urgent one now. Because it seems that on any issue about how to govern Clark County, Republicans have ceded the middle ground in favor of dogma and intransigence and obstinacy. And I sure hope they know what they are doing.

The latest example came last week from county Councilor Tom Mielke, who filed a recall petition against Jeanne Stewart, Julie Olson, and Marc Boldt — three of the four other members of the council. The allegation: “(they) committed acts of malfeasance, misfeasance and violated (their) oath of office.” The translation: “They keep outvoting us 3-2.”

You see, Mielke and Councilor David Madore have found themselves in a minority on the council. Never mind that four of the councilors are Republicans and that Boldt is a Republican who ran for council chair with no party preference. Never mind that maybe, just maybe, Stewart, Olson, and Boldt are more interested in governance than dogma.

And while the petition will receive due diligence before likely being laughed out of court, the problem for Republicans is the impact it has on the party as a whole. It is difficult to win converts when two of your most visible members are performing a Laurel and Hardy act and getting themselves into another fine mess.

“I think it’s getting almost poisonous, I really do,” Republican state Rep. Brandon Vick told The Columbian’s Editorial Board last week. “And that’s too bad.”

Damaging to the party

Vick is an example of the people being damaged by the continual black marks placed on the local Republican brand. He is a hard-working, reasonable legislator, one who comes across as thoughtful and is attentive to the needs of his constituents while clinging to conservative principles. He is a lion in a circus where the clowns are demanding all of the attention, and he has some advice for Mielke and Madore.

“You know, I’m in the minority in the House, and when I want a bill passed, it’s probably not in my best interest to go and absolutely lambaste the Speaker of the House or whatever,” he said. “If I were on the wrong side of a 3-2 decision every time, I probably wouldn’t go out there and call the three ‘liberals’ or ‘RINOs’ or whatever.”

He probably also wouldn’t write what Christian Berrigan, the state committeeman for the Clark County Republican Party, posted in April on Facebook: “What will it take to stop the current cabal of 3 Benedict Arnolds on the Clark County Council from setting a new record for law breaking? … Do the citizens need to do a bum’s rush … and just shut it down until the Sheriff comes and makes arrests? WHAT WILL IT TAKE?”

In a phone interview Friday, Berrigan said he has not read the recall petition but added, “My personal opinion is that any time Republicans can be seen as standing up for what’s right and against the status quo, that’s a good thing.”

Maybe, maybe not. Or it might be seen as one party cannibalizing itself at the expense of the county. It might be seen as an embarrassing straw-grasp by a desperate faction of a party that is splitting itself in two. It might be seen as a reason for an increasing number of Republicans to abandon the Madore brand of self-absorbed politics. The fact that the party hierarchy continues to defend his blind inflexibility is damaging in the court of public opinion.

“I don’t know how we got here,” Vick said. “I really don’t know how we got here.”

The question is whether we can extricate ourselves and return to the land of effective governance. Out of a need for that, I hope the local Republican Party knows what it is doing.

Damaging to the party

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