Our household contributed to Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s campaigns. We’ve written to District 3 newspapers supporting her. Will we continue?
On Nov. 8, I called her Vancouver office about votes she cast censuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., but not Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y. Asked if I wanted a reply, I said, “Yes.” I waited two weeks. I called again on Nov. 21, to remind staff regarding a reply. I finally got an email on Dec. 12.
If her opponent is Joe Kent, we will vote for her; Kent would be bad for the 3rd District. But that’s not the same as supporting her.
While well-spoken in her reply, Perez ignored my reasoning and made two unforced errors. Rep. Tlaib’s remarks reflected her constituents’ views. It was not Rep. Perez’s responsibility to express an opinion on her colleague representing her constituents. Tlaib knows her constituents in Michigan better than Perez does.
The vote on Santos was troubling because Santos engendered ridicule of Congress. Perez had an institutional responsibility to mitigate Santos’ damage. She didn’t address this issue in her response to me. Later voting to expel him, her vote was ill-timed.
