LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Carolyn  Huddleston, Liberal

Election time is here, and I am a Republican who isn’t going to be voting for the Republican candidate for the Seward County Commission in the District where I live [District 4]. During the recent forum, there was only one candidate willing to voluntarily cap the amount of property tax increase we would get in one year, and that was Jose Lara, the Democrat candidate in District 4. So he is my choice.

There seems to be a lot of people who are Republicans in name only. That is, those who register themselves as Republicans but don’t uphold fundamentals of the party, such as keeping taxes low and making the budget fit the county income. Indeed, one current principle of the Republican Party platform is that any property tax increase that exceeds the rate of growth has to be approved by a public vote. Not one of the three Republican candidates for the Seward County Commission seats indicated that he was in favor of this.

Along the same lines, I have a hard time believing the persons chosen as Republican Party officers are those the party as a whole would have wanted in those positions. Twenty-two precinct officers made the choices. No other Republicans were allowed to vote. The Vice President, Tammy Sutherland Abbott, voted for the 17 mill tax increase one year ago, and citizens were pursuing her recall when she resigned last December.

Meanwhile, the President of the local Republican Party is the son of Scott Carr, who also voted in favor of that tax increase, and who resigned when a recall petition was approved. Talking about his father’s support of that humongous tax increase, Brad Carr has said he “gets it!” And the Secretary of the Republican Party is another relative and supporter of Scott Carr, as I understand it.

So Big Spenders seem to be in positions of authority in the local Republican Party, and the recent personal endorsement by Scott Carr of Jairo Vazquez, the candidate for the Seward County Commission in District 3, makes me worried about what we the taxpayers have to look forward to if he gets elected. I’d say re-elected, but he has never been elected. He was appointed to finish out Scott Carr’s term by some of those precinct people who recently chose the party officers.

Further, it might be noted that Clay Louderback was appointed to fill out the term of a third Seward County Commissioner who resigned last December, and there were only three precinct people making that choice, namely, Clay himself and his wife, plus one other individual. Thus, Clay’s own vote together with that of his wife were the majority and assured his selection for that position. Now the question is whether people want to retain him in office.

To me it’s a sorry state of affairs when the Republican candidates and party leadership don’t show any commitment to keeping our taxes low and living within their means. It might be noted that expenditures are going to be exceeding income in 2027. Due to some mistake in scheduling, instead of increasing the mill levy, the County had to go revenue neutral, and they are taking the planned additional spending from reserves. Clay Louderback and Jairo Vazquez were in favor of this, and it appears all the other current commissioners were also.