It’s no secret there’s a rift within the Republican party in Clark County; it’s pretty well documented.

Republican Paul Harris recently made it even more abundantly clear recently when he showed up to the Ronald Reagan birthday party celebration dinner recently wearing Groucho glasses, complete with the fake nose and mustache.

“So, uh, Paul was not able to come tonight,” Harris, of Vancouver, said at the podium. “Paul got an email that said he shouldn’t attend this event.”

Harris said the letter, which came from a fellow Republican, mentioned there would be ramifications for attending the Republicans of Clark County event.

He said he thought for “like 10 seconds” and then decided to attend anyway.

He told the crowd and later, The Columbian, “I don’t think those people ever helped me in my last election. I don’t think they helped me in the election before that … or before that.”

You can see a video clip of the speech here, thanks to Lew Waters.

Harris noted he attends hundreds of events. Some sponsored by Republicans, some sponsored by Democrats.

“What really needs to happen … is we have got to get together. We have got to stop eating our own,” Harris said.

Lauren Dake

Lauren Dake

Lauren Dake covers politics for The Columbian. You can reach her at 360-735-4534 or lauren.dake@columbian.com. Follow her on Twitter .

Scroll to top