Time to Cut Republicans Down to Size

* If Republican officeholders are as committed to reducing the size and cost of government as party officials would like voters to believe, then why do GOP candidates running for elected office in Orange County continue to promise the elimination of government waste?

Republicans have long controlled most city councils in the county--as of 1992, more than two-thirds of all local elected officials were Republicans. Republicans have also dominated the Board of Supervisors for decades.

If Republican officeholders were a guarantee of smaller, less wasteful and more efficient government, then the various governmental bodies in Orange County would hardly need reforming.

To hear GOP candidates tell it, however, county and local government is still rife with wasteful expenditures and unnecessary programs.

This makes absolutely no sense. Republicans control most elected positions in the county and yet the GOP continues to say it’s the party better suited to “reduce the size and cost of government.” Maybe this argument works when applied to the state Legislature or the U.S. Congress, but it shouldn’t be permitted to wash in Orange County given the overwhelming dominance of Republicans in elected offices.

If there’s as much waste in county and local government as the current crop of GOP candidates claim, we’ve no one else to blame but the Republican officeholders we’ve been electing to guard the candy store.

Either there’s not as much waste in local and county government as GOP candidates allege or Republicans aren’t as committed to its elimination as campaign flyers allege. Maybe it’s simply time for voters to change the guardians.

MARK P. PETRACCA

Irvine