Letter: A Crucial Choice – Examining the candidates for Clark County Council

Reform Clark County Founder Rob Anderson provides his analysis of the candidates for Clark County Council District 3 and District 4 seats. — Rob Anderson, founder Reform Clark County

Reform Clark County Founder Rob Anderson offers his support for Clark County Council candidates Peter Cutile and Chuck Keplar

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com

Ballots are here and we have two very, very important County Council seats up for grabs. Eight candidates are vying for four spots to duke it out in November for those two open seats.

The two seats in question are currently held by Karen Bowerman in District 3 and Gary Medvigy in District 4. Both ran as Republicans but have been terribly disappointing over the last four years on many issues, including their COVID response, raising impact fees, approving the Baker Tilly consulting contract that gave big raises to employees (which is blowing up the budget) and now supporting Auditor Greg Kimsey’s Charter amendments. They went lockstep with Gov. Inslee and often side with the administrative elites. They rarely stand up for Republican values like smaller government and more accountability. Instead, they sat back during COVID, handing out $3.7M in bonuses — more ARPA money went to county employees’ bonuses than to small businesses devastated during the pandemic.

I could go on, but needless to say, these two county seats are vital, and that’s why I’m encouraging you and the 3,000-plus people who get my Reform Clark County updates to vote for Peter Cutile (District 4) and Chuck Keplar (District 3).

District 3

In District 3, three candidates are working for the two spots for the general election.

Wil Fuentes, a recent Hillsboro, Oregon transplant, is running on behalf of the Democrats and is hoping to capture Bowerman’s seat not just for himself and his fellow Democrats but also to have a seat for Fourth Plain Forward (FPF), a very aggressive, DEI, social justice, far-left community organization hoping to turn Vancouver dark blue. Gov. Inslee has personally visited FPF, and Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle of Vancouver is a big supporter. If Fuentes is elected, there’s no doubt that Mayor Anne might as well get an office with her name on the 6th floor of the Clark County Public Service building because she’ll practically have a proxy vote through Fuentes. Not to mention that FPF received over $500,000 of COVID money from the county to spread out to small businesses, and guess who now is the program manager for business outreach? Wil Fuentes.

The other candidate is John Jay, another recent transplant. Both Fuentes and Jay registered to vote for the first time in Clark County just a few years ago, in March of 2022. Jay wants you to think he’s a Republican, but his policy positions tell a different story. Jay has said at different forums and interviews that he is in SUPPORT of raising your taxes along with the Democrats and won’t oppose tolls (watch the video HERE).Of course, he gives the ol’ playbook move of saying, “Nobody likes tolls,” but it’s clear he won’t lift a finger to stop them. Jay refused to submit a survey to the Clark County Republican Party, probably not wanting to reveal his compromising positions fully, and has marched out a list of squishy “Republicans” like Rep. Paul Harris that have a worse record of flip-flopping than John Kerry but that’s probably what they taught him at Berkeley.

Chuck Keplar is the only candidate who hasn’t just recently moved into the district but has raised his family — six of his eight kids adopted through the foster care system, and has invested decades in District 3. Keplar’s campaign is “Families First, Lower Taxes and No Tolls,” and boy, does he mean it. Keplar ran for Evergreen School Board knowing that if he won, a position that paid no money, he’d have to quit his job to serve the people, and nearly knocked out an incumbent. Now, with that experience under his belt, and the endorsement of the Clark County Republican Party, he’s ready to serve the people, and we need to support and get Keplar elected.

District 4

Now, let’s turn to District 4, where five candidates are battling for the top two spots to go head-to-head in November (well, only four are functionally campaigning, but I’ll get into that later).

There are three candidates trying mightily to fool voters into thinking they are conservative on issues when their background says the complete opposite. The non-partisan labels on the County Council positions weren’t meant to help voters but intended, and are succeeding to a certain degree, in giving voters less information to make informed decisions. Think about it. Changing the label doesn’t remove politics, and three of the five candidates are trying to take advantage.

Joe Zimmerman, whose longtime family farm isn’t even in District 4, is running and telling some he’s a “moderate Republican,” yet he’s stated that he’ll support raising taxes, supports the bridge as proposed (which won’t add capacity), and is a board member of the mainly Democrat organization Friends of Clark County. On top of that, Zimmerman also was instrumental in getting Sue Marshall, a tax-and-spend Democrat and was a fellow Friends of Clark County board member, endorsed by the Clark-Cowlitz Farm Bureau in 2022 which no doubt played a part in her election. If Joe Zimmerman gets elected, District 5 will practically have two councilors, and he will most likely need to recuse himself from any decisions concerning the railroad because his District 5-located farm is smack dab in the middle of the controversy as it butts up against the railroad.

Matt Little claims to be a hunting-and-fishing fiscally conservative independent. But when you look closer, he’s hardly independent. His background wreaks of Washington DC politics, and he served as a staffer for one of the most liberal US Senators ever to serve, Patrick Moynihan (yes, the one whom Hillary Clinton replaced in New York). But it gets worse. Recently, he worked as director of investor partnerships with Social Venture Partners (SVP) of Portland, a very left-leaning organization targeting preschoolers with DEI and radical social justice curricula.

SVP touts that they work to “dismantle racist systems,” and they do it by “teaching” preschoolers. It’s no wonder Matt Little told the League of Women Voters that he’d look to implement more DEI even though the voters soundly rejected a charter amendment doing so just a few years ago. I’m not a fan of DEI stuff but I really don’t like hiding it behind the veil of being an “independent.” By the way, did I mention he recently picked up the endorsement of Mayor McEnerny-Ogle of Vancouver? I guess she could have two votes on the County Council if she plays her cards right.

Dorothy Gasque is the current deputy treasurer for the Clark County Democratic Party yet hasn’t mentioned that once in forums or interviews. She ran in 2018 for the U.S. Representative District 3 and lost significantly, only gaining 4.9% of the votes. She has a long track record of being a staunch Bernie Sanders supporter, and some consider her “Washington State’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.” Yet, when you listen to her answers, she wants you to think otherwise.

Shannon Roberts rode the wave of hatred for the Camas pool levy to win a seat on the Camas Council only to mysteriously resign in 2022. What’s odd about her resignation is that she didn’t give voters any indication why, and from what I can see now, I think she doesn’t respect voters enough to think they are entitled to one. I talked to Ms. Roberts shortly before she filed in early May. She told me and others she would be out of town for just two weeks, but she’s been MIA in Clark County ever since, literally living mostly in the Puget Sound area, while skipping out on all forums and in-person interviews.Now, her reason for this might be justifiable but her lack of honesty about her availability and lack of access to voters is not. Apparently, Roberts thinks so little of the voters that all she has to do is put a statement in the Voters’ pamphlet, hang a few signs, talk up her military background, and coast into the County Council seat. I’m sorry, but we need more than that especially when heading into a competitive general election. When I checked her voting record (which she challenged me to do), I found mostly unanimous votes, and she went right along with the COVID lockdowns and government narratives without notable resistance.

Peter Cutile is a Romanian-born passionate man who loves his family, church, and community (sidenote, based on Matt Little’s love and pursuit for DEI, maybe he should drop out and endorse Cutile immediately to be more equitable). Cutile is tired of people getting elected to work to expand the county budget and hand out raises. He wants to work for you, for us. Wouldn’t that be nice for a change? Mr. Cutile’s background is as a very successful real estate broker, and he is keenly aware of the difficulties families are facing regarding housing and inflation. Cutile is clear that we don’t need to raise taxes anymore but is the only candidate who has a plan to reduce the budget, oppose family-crushing tolls, and protect people’s rights and is the only candidate in District 4 endorsed by the Clark County Republican Party.

The County Council hangs in the balance and your support and vote will no doubt shape the future of Clark County. Every vote counts and I hope my opinion helps you cut through the fog of “non-partisan” labels so you can vote for true fighters. I wholeheartedly support and endorse Chuck Keplar, and Peter Cutile for Clark County Council, and hope you do too.

Rob Anderson
www.reformclarkcounty.com