Republican votes are not for sale

"Whacked," "puppeteer," "kingmaker" and "powerbroker" are just some of the pejorative terms that have been used when speaking about my involvement in politics this season. None of these is accurate.

What is accurate is that I'm a small business owner who gets passionately involved when elected "leaders" promote higher taxes, particularly those who were elected on fiscal conservative values, and more particularly those, like Mark Sharpe, who personally support an increase in our taxes during one of the worst recessions that small business owners have ever experienced.

To that end, and in response to your editorial ("Power play in commission primary," Our Opinion, Aug. 12), I would like to set the record straight.

I have never "warned" anyone about anything. I did, as I always have, inform all of our Republican county commissioners that their support of this tax, implied or otherwise, was in direct contradiction to 77 percent of a polled response of their constituency. I reminded each that their elected position of leadership does not trump their "representation" of their constituency.

We face a similar problem in our national leadership where, once elected, our nation's leaders somehow transcend representation of the majority and become more "illuminated" as to what is best for our individual families.

Sorry, I know what's best for my family, my small business, my 50,000 customers, my 70 employees and their respective families - and it's not a 14 percent increase in our sales tax rate.

Your criticism of my lawful maximum capable support for Josh Burgin, as opposed to the massive injection of cash to the incumbent in the race and the "earned media" as evidenced by your editorial, is, well, hypocritical. Had I been a proponent of Sharpe and lawfully contributed my maximum capable amount to his campaign, would you have printed such a strongly worded negative opinion of my involvement? I believe not.

This fight is not about Sharpe personally, "intimidation" or "gaining power." I've supported Mark on every one of his campaigns from 1996 forward. I believe I've given or raised more money for his past campaigns than most individuals and, in fact, I was an early contributor to him in this particular race.

I certainly didn't hear anything about "intimidation" or "gaining power" when I was a supporter of your endorsed candidate in the past.

It was only after his vocal support of this tax increase, his unwillingness to respond to questions about the overall cost of building and operating a light-rail system, the speed in which the decision was made to commit to a $15 billion estimated expenditure, the planned route missing an airport stop which was one of his strongest sales pitches early in the debate, and the fact that he didn't fully explore alternative funding sources prior to pitching for the largest single tax increase in our county's history - all combined - that has me involved in the manner that I currently am: I am a strong advocate for Burgin and against all of the odds at the moment.

But make no mistake about this. My material and lawful participation in the electoral process or the special interest groups' material and lawful participation for Sharpe is completely insignificant compared to the individual participation of Sharpe's Republican voter constituent base.

Their vote on Aug. 24 is not up for sale.