Speakers at the Feb. 7 Lewis County Republican Precinct Meeting, including Rep. Jim Walsh and former sheriff John McCroskey, had some good news for Washington: Democrats are recommending controls on the governor's emergency powers, the Republican National Committee is funneling funds into Washington because of Tiffany Smiley's strong campaign against Sen. Patty Murray, the increasing local homeless encampments are being addressed, legislation is being worked on to combat the recent Democrat anti-pursuit, anti-arrest crime laws and efforts are being made to cut property taxes (in view of the state's $900 million budget surplus).
The final speaker was U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who was invited to speak via Zoom from Washington, D.C. She answered questions from the audience with her stock talking points about how hard she's working for all of us.
Then Joe Kent, who is running against her, asked if Jaime would be willing to meet him in a debate. Her response was aggressively angry and full of accusations.
What dumbfounded me was how much her tirade could have been the exact script of the radio ads that Heidi St. John has been running against Joe.
Although Heidi calls Joe a Democrat carpetbagger intent on stealing her election entitlement, here is the truth. After Joe's wife was killed on active duty in Syria, he left the military and took his children to Portland, Oregon, where his mother lived.
Realizing Portland was not where he wanted his children to grow up, he moved to Washington because it was close to family, and a Republican district. Joe even voted for Jaime.
After meeting President Trump as Joe received his wife's body at Dover, Joe was surprised by the Trump Administration contacting him and offering him a position as a consultant on veterans' affairs, which he accepted.
Joe readily admits that, using a technique Rush Limbaugh highly recommended, during the 2020 presidential primary he chose the Democrat candidate most likely not to win, who happened to be Bernie Sanders, and voted for him to dilute the number of votes for a Democrat candidate who might threaten President Trump. Then he voted for Trump during the general election. It wasn't until Herrera Beutler voted to impeach Trump that he decided to run for office himself.
Early in 2021, Heidi promised publicly to bow out if another candidate won Trump's endorsement. Kent won; Heidi didn't bow out. I feel Heidi's campaign is predicated on a lie. Jaime has continued to oppose anything or anyone supporting what President Trump stood for, seemingly for her own personal reasons. If Heidi and Jaime fault Joe for his vote for a failing Democrat to help win a Republican seat, then it seems that the apparent collaboration between Jaime and Heidi to slander Joe in his campaign race is like the pot calling the kettle black.
At any rate, Jaime promised to meet Joe in debate so we will be hearing Jaime's defense of the mess her actions have helped create.
Linda Clark
Onalaska
