LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Carolyn  Huddleston, Liberal

Tuesday’s election results should tell the leadership of our local Republican Party something.  Namely, that resignations are in order.

Jairo Vazquez and Clay Louderback weren’t defeated because Democrats now outnumber Republicans two to one.  No, Republicans and Independents felt the Republican choices for commission seats represented a group they couldn’t identify with.  And I believe rejection of the local Republican Party, as represented by its current chair and vice chair, spilled over to affect choices for the statewide seats that were open.

That is the thing that was a shock to me. 

Although the Democrats picked up a lot of votes statewide, the increase in support for Democratic candidates in Seward County was significantly greater than elsewhere in the Big First district.

We need to have Republicans in the local offices who stand for limited government and low taxes, and who will listen to the people  rather than “rule over” the people as Clay said at the forum. They should “represent” their constituents.

For the Republican Party to recover locally, the leadership needs to change.

Personally, I’d like to see Neal Coffey as the chair of the local Republican Party.  He has the same values which I think are important to Republicans in general and match my own.  Six of the 22 precinct people voted for him in their recent election of officers, while 16 voted for Brad Carr.  I almost typed “voted for Scott Carr,” which I think is actually pretty much true. 

In any case, we need leadership the average Republican can see as sharing their own convictions about responsible government.  Then they will again vote Republican, and the Independents will also make that choice as many of them have typically done in the past.