Letter: For the State Senate (18th District), ‘Brad Benton is the only worthy candidate’

According to Battle Ground resident Vernon Jeremica, Brad Benton is ‘a conservative Republican who will vote to stop funding and support for illegal immigrants, will vote against tax increases, will protect our property rights, defend our second amendment, and champion parental rights’

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

I have been a life-long conservative Republican since the 1964 Goldwater Campaign. For the last three years I have often wondered if Greg Cheney was a Republican since his own Republican Party had difficulty recognizing him. In this election, the Clark County Republican Party did not endorse Cheney.

Incumbents must be held accountable for how they vote. I happen to live in Greg Chaney, and Adrian Cortes’s neighborhoods and precinct. Adrian Cortes, a Democrat who is proud to be WOKE, is an opponent of Greg Cheney, in the Legislative District 18 race for senator to the Washington State Legislature.

I was surprised to observe in the 2022 election that Cheney’s campaign sign for LD 18 representative (R) for Washington state was on Cortes’s yard during the campaign! This raises my curiosity as to any difference between these two candidates.

When voting for an incumbent, what really matters is the voting record. Does the Voter Pamphlet provide enough information to make an informed choice? Do you believe that should be the end all to marking the box on the ballot?

How a candidate votes or promises to vote and how they govern is valuable data. Ways to check these facts and statistics on voting records are watchdog sites like the American Conservative Union (CPAC) Rating, The Freedom Index, Informed Choice WA, past Reflector Newspaper articles, and of course Clark County Today articles.

Voters should spend quality time researching incumbents. Do they deserve to continue representing you in government? In my research, I discovered Greg Cheney voted yes on HB 1889 which allows undocumented citizens/illegal aliens in the state of Washington a pathway to obtain professional licenses in our state. Should your representative vote to reward someone who has broken the law and illegally entered this nation? This is contrary to a conservative policy that the rule of law should be followed, and that criminals should never be rewarded for breaking the law.

I checked the Washington State Legislative Scorecard which provides a Freedom Index, rating members in Congress. This scorecard rates incumbents on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, and a traditional policy of avoiding foreign entanglements. As an avowed Republican and a lawyer, we should expect a better rating than a 50 by Cheney. A Freedom Index at the bottom of the Republican party in the state of Washington. Most Democrats receive a zero rating, but to be rated a conservative, you need to be at least a 70. Those between an 80-100 index rating are always going to be worthy of my vote.

One of the bills that Cheney voted for is in direct opposition to the Clark County Republican Platform, a yes vote for HB 1170, which invests taxpayer dollars in creating a climate change response, a waste of taxpayer money. This is an example of a vote that will redistribute your money to satisfy a global agenda of climate change which has proven to have little or no effect on the climate.

Another effective tool is to research the PAC’s that fund campaign fliers that say, for example “no candidate authorized this ad.” Heavy money interests back the PAC funded fliers. Greg Chaney early in the primary campaign had such an ad that was paid for by WA Wins sponsored by the Leadership Council. For all we know this could be an ad with the intent to gather more votes for Cheney and dilute the votes for Brad Benton. However, what is important is what indicates who the top big donor PAC contributors are in this notation: GOPAC Inc., Marlene Ricketts, Washington Hospital Services. The question arises who is Marlene Ricketts? Further DuckDuckGo browsing provided an answer. Marlene’s family owns the Chicago Cubs, and her and her billionaire Ameritrade husband are funding anti-Trump campaigns and support squishy Republicans, non-conservatives, Republican in Name Only (RINO) candidates across the USA to federal senators and representative.

In this election cycle, state senators and representatives are included. In Clark County, every conservative candidate supporting Trump has been cursed with a lukewarm, marginal Republican running against them. In the case of Cheney, the people perpetuating the DC swamp, the people who are terrified of losing their grip on our nation are fighting back with their bank accounts. Dr. Ben Carson in an interview with Tucker Carlson recently objected to the word “Swamp” which is often used to describe Washington DC and the power structure that has a grip on our nation. Dr. Carson uses the word “Cesspool,” saying it is more appropriate since not all things in the swamp are bad.

For LD 18 State Senate, Brad Benton is the only worthy candidate. A conservative Republican he will vote to stop funding and support for illegal immigrants, will vote against tax increases, will protect our property rights, defend our second amendment, and champion parental rights.

Vernon Jeremica
Battle Ground