In defense of Brent Regan

As a Precinct 22 KCRCC committeeman and longtime friend of Brent Regan, I am disgusted with The Press editorial on Friday, April 9, with Dan Gookin’s screeching Soviet screed on Friday, April 16, and with Christie Wood’s woe-is-me cat scratch on Saturday, April 17, All these diatribes blast Regan in particular but also all the elected precinct committeemen, as well, for being center-right conservative constitutionists.

On the most truthful left-right political spectrum with totalitarianism on the far left and Road Warrior-esque anarchy on the far right, that would put the U.S. Constitution/Bill of Rights just center-right and that’s where I stand politically and where Regan and the rest of the committee stands, as far as I can tell. None of us is far right, nor white supremacist or anything close to that. We just lean toward more individual liberties than bow to collectivist mobs.

That the Democratic Party has drifted so far left into Progressivism and Socialism since at least the beginning of Barack Obama’s presidency, drags the perceived political center left as well. And that’s a shame.

It seems that the recent anti-Regan, anti-KCRCC editorial and OpEds are timed perfectly to coincide with the upcoming election, which is “non-partisan.” In days of old, non-partisan meant just that, but many boards, education particularly, seemed to hold more hardcore liberals who sneaked in under the wire by not having to state their party affiliation and then governed according to their political bent. Not until this last year did KCRCC decide to bring things out in the open and ask some questions of candidates, then come up with recommendations by voting.

That The Press editorials are anonymous by definition allows guest writers from time to time to write them, besides the managing editor. Regan had a point-by-point reply submitted Friday afternoon of the day of publication, suspecting someone else had written it, which I read and which has not been published yet over a week later. He also submitted a response to Gookin’s hit piece, seemingly styled after Saul Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals.” That’s about the only way he could compare Regan and the KCRCC to Soviets and hope to get away with it. I read that response, too, and have yet to see it in print. I’m sure Regan will respond to Christie Wood’s pent-up hatred article with more concise points.

I have worked with Regan on Burt Rutan projects and have found Regan not only a hard worker, but fun to be around and I’ve marveled at his ability to come up with complicated engineering solutions in less time than I could possibly imagine.

I worked as an editor/writer/photographer at The Press from 2004 to 2009 and am having a hard time realizing how partisan the publication has become. I’m sorry for Brent Regan having his character assassinated repeatedly by poisonous political potty-mouths without getting his chance to reply.

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Mike Satren is a Hayden resident.