Party Chief Speaks Up but Misfires

* For several years, I have been feeling increasingly uncomfortable in the Republican Party. Yet, I cannot be a Democrat. All of politics seems to have been reduced to taking polls, counting letters and phone calls and following that which will get the candidate elected.

In Newt Gingrich, when I see his complete speech on C-SPAN or CNN, I see a willingness to fight the battle with ideas, not polls. The network news bites make him look like a political opportunist, catering to the extreme right.

My final decision to leave the Republican Party was made when I read [Thomas A.] Fuentes’ letter (June 25). He said, “I urge Orange County neighbors to join the elected leadership of the Republican Party of Orange County who have voted unanimously to oppose Measure R.”

It wasn’t that he opposed Measure R. It was the word “unanimously.” There doesn’t seem to be room in the Republican Party or its leadership for a moderate.

I shall follow my son’s leadership and register as an Independent.

JEAN ENGLAND

Newport Beach

* I take great offense to Thomas A. Fuentes’ comment in the article “CEO to Grand Jury: Stanton Must Go” (June 23), which states “We the people [of Orange County] got what we paid for.” What right as a highly visible person, does he have to speak for me?

I like William Popejoy. I feel he represents the basic philosophies of the Republican Party: less government and do what it takes to get the job done. Does Fuentes think it is easy to ask for a higher tax or to deeply cut the federal budget like his fellow Republicans in Washington want to do? It is people like Popejoy who are needed in the county.

Therefore, I, along with many other Orange County residents, do not want to be included in Fuentes’ “we the people.”

JOHN PERENDY

Laguna Hills