Lincoln County convention a showcase of freedom, principle

DAVENPORT -

In a modern looking, pew-filled courthouse adorned with photographs of more than a hundred years worth of judges, Lincoln County Republicans met in Davenport on Sunday for their annual county party convention. Aside from a few problems with party mailings that didn't reach their intended destination within the county of just over 10,000 people surrounded by wheat farms sandwiched between rugged coulee country to the west and Spokane's pine forests to the east, the convention went on without incident. Most of the party brass attributed this smooth sailing to the county's simplified party platform, which stated broad party principles such as freedom, deregulation and high standards rather than an extensive list of issue stances.

Sue Lani Madsen, candidate for State Representative in the 7th LD called it a "passionate but civil convention" and contrasted Lincoln with "a lot of counties have a platform that is many, many, many pages and they go through line by line."

With the platform taken care of, the convention focused on the election of delegates and alternates to the state convention, the slate of which included Madsen and her rival for the 7th LD seat, Peter Davenport.

While the votes were being counted, Scott Hutzel read off the results of an issue survey given at February's caucus. The most important issue, hands down, for Lincoln County Republicans was controlling government spending. Next came border security and winning the war on terror, followed by property rights, protecting traditional marriage and the second amendment.

Specifically relating to government spending, Lincoln County voted 77-3 in agreement with the statement that there were currently too many regulations and taxes imposed by the government. The voters were more split on the idea of a constitutional balanced budget amendment, which they favored 49-30.

Keeping in line with the county's adherence to freedom and government spending control, the favorite candidate of the delegation seemed to be Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning Representative from Texas. Of the eight delegates and alternates, at least three of them expressed their intention to cast votes for Dr. Paul at the state convention. Only two chose presumptive nominee John McCain, Senator from Arizona, and in both cases it was out of party solidarity. The other delegates stated no commitment going into the convention.

At the end of the day, Party Chair Dale Bly gave an impassioned plea to his fellow Republicans to work hard to raise the county's clout by turning out more voters for Dino Rossi in the fall and agitating to serve on committees to advise Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

"We're the most educated electorate in the whole state," Bly claimed, referring to their personal knowledge as farmers of the state's regulations and B&O taxes. Their next step toward making that difference will be at the state Republican convention in Spokane in May.