SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KNX) — San Bernardino County Supervisor Janice Rutherford announced Friday she was leaving the Republican Party over its statement characterizing the events of Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol as “legitimate political discourse.”
At a meeting of the Republican National Committee in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Friday, a subcommittee approved a resolution censuring House Rep. Liz Cheney (R.-Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (R.-Illinois) for participating in the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse,” the resolution stated, “and they are both utilizing their past professed political affiliation to mask [Democrats’] abuse of prosecutorial power for partisan purposes.”
“Legitimate political discourse does not describe what I saw on January 6th,” Rutherford tweeted on Friday.
“It’s something I’ve been moving toward for a while as I’ve watched the party pull away from the values that made me a member of that party,” Rutherford told The San Bernardino Sun. “I came up in the ‘80s when it was about freedom and liberty and prosperity and giving people a ‘hand up, not a hand out,’ and now it’s about [...] catchphrases and ‘owning’ people.”
“That’s a very nasty tone and strain that doesn’t represent any of those positive values,” Rutherford said.
The supervisor also announced Friday she would not be seeking reelection to the board. “The party should have folks who agree with its point of view and perspective, and I no longer do,” she said.
Rutherford sits on a board representing one of the most populous counties in the country. She was first elected in 2010, and represents the Second District, encompassing Rancho Cucamonga, Lake Arrowhead, Running Springs, Crestline, and parts of Fontana and Upland. Around 30 percent of voters in the Second District are Republicans.
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