Conservative Quintanar quits GOP — but not its ideals

Fresno Bee Newsroom Blog

by John Ellis

You really have to wonder about the future of the Republican Party — not only in California, but maybe even the nation — if people like Serafin Quintanar are jumping ship.

Quintanar, 42, is a rock-solid conservative and Tea Party activist. In 2010, he finished a distant third in the 20th Congressional District Republican primary election, which was won by Hanford cherry farmer Andy Vidak.

Next week, Quintanar says, he will re-register as an independent, which in the past was known in official parlance as “decline to state,” but is now called “no party preference.”

In California, a lot has been written about the decline of the Republican Party, and much of that suggested it is out of step with the state’s more liberal leanings and has become too conservative to be viable.

But Quintanar comes from a totally different angle.

“I am not leaving the Republican Party,” he says. “The Republican Party left me.”

Read this story at fresnobeehive.com ...