Dear Editor,

As Republicans we are at a crossroads. We have a candidate and incumbents who have lost track of some of our values and are running for election and re-election.Our current commissioners raised our taxes by 48 percent. This directly affects disabled and senior citizen property owners living on a fixed income. They are the people we are supposed to care for, and yet we have increased their burden.We, as Republicans, have a candidate for district attorney who voted for Obama twice and supports another expansion of government called drug court.What happened to our values? Since when did Republicans support tax increases? When did Republicans start supporting the expansion of government? Most importantly, when did Republicans begin to run campaigns on the liberal progressive ideology? And why are we supporting them?We have a Republican majority in the commissioners office and somehow we feel the need to cross the aisle. If we were elected as Republicans, shouldn't we at least stick to Republican values? There is supposed to be a difference between the two parties based on values and constitutional philosophy, and I don't see it.Our taxes were raised 48 percent, and according to the budget we still wouldn't have the money necessary to create a drug court.Jason WagnerPalmerton