Opinion and Commentary By Donna Westfall – July 18, 2023
I always chuckle when I receive a notice of the local Del Norte Republican Central Committee Meeting with their tag line, “Elect Common Sense.”
One of the reasons I ran out of the Del Norte County Democratic Central Committee meeting years ago and re-registered as a Republican after being a life-long Democrat was because of their stance on taxes and fluoride. They were pretty closed minded about both issues.
Let’s digress back to when the City and the County wanted to raise sales tax by re-examining Sam Straits Commentary published in October 2022:
“I suppose if one intended to follow the lead of the Local Republican
Central Committee, one might as well join the Democratic Party, of “Big
Government” and the higher taxes to pay for it. There does not appear
to be much to distinguish them, the Republicans, from Democrats on the
issue of repealing the sales tax increase from 2020. One has to wonder,
just who is being served here, the government or its citizens?
Ordinarily, Republicans would be full on against any attempt to raise
taxes of any kind, in an effort to measure up to the theory that
Republicans stand for less government and lower taxes. Such is not the
case here in Del Norte County, where the local Republicans have come out
in favor of the higher sales tax to continue a massively growing
County government.”
This morning I received an email from Carl DeMaio, Chairman of Reform California:
“Last week I was the keynote speaker at an event attended by a number of local elected officials. Let me share a shocking exchange I had with one local politician – because I need your help in setting him straight ASAP!
A Republican city councilman came up to me and asked if he would lose Reform California’s endorsement in the next election if he voted to put a tax hike measure on the ballot. Not only did I emphatically say that he would lose the endorsement, but I would actively recruit and support a candidate against him!
He arrogantly told me “well if you do that you’ll split the vote and a Democrat will win the seat.” My response was “If you vote for a tax hike, we already have a Democrat in the seat – and if we start giving tax-raisers like you a pass, we’ll lose even more seats as we tarnish our brand as the true tax-fighters in California.”
Do you agree with my position to stand on principle no matter what the cost?“
Yes, I do agree with standing on principle. The days of supporting these quasi Crescent City-Del Norte County Republican’s who say one thing and vote another by ever increasing taxes need to end! We need to look for those that practice what they preach. If they are really against raising taxes, let’s hold their feet to the fire because our own BOS with Darrin Short, Joey Borges, Chris Howard and Dean Wilson certainly are not.
What a disappointment. Four out of five supervisors are Republicans. I really don’t see much difference between the Dem’s and the Repub’s in this town.
As far as this Wednesday’s July 19th Central Committee Meeting, they are having Eric Early there as guest speaker. He’s running for US Senate. If you want to see him, he’ll be there 6 pm at Republican HQ located at 290 I St. in Crescent City.
Wonder where he stands on taxation? Wonder if he has any common sense?
