The price tag to do the right thing
Carla Axtman
Republicans in Franklin County, Washington who aren't tea-bagging, fringe nutters are out of luck, it seems.
Earlier this month, the party voted to censure Republican State Representative Maureen Walsh over her vote on the state's domestic partnership bill. The censure vote isn't the real story however, in my view. It's the way it went down.
But what really happened at the FCRCC meeting? Once source tells me it was more like mob rule than a meeting when a group consisting largely of evangelicals led by Nicole Prasch and Brenda High (complete with a area representative from Focus on the Family) pressured for a censure vote (Ok… censure… exactly what does that even accomplish?).This isn’t good for Franklin County moderate Republicans who like many others, are increasingly coming around to the understanding that civil unions are not the great threat (or the best platform issue) they had been led to believe.
I don't know what good it does to censure a legislator either. But it seems to me that our Republican brethren who stand up for equal rights are sometimes doing so at risk to their careers and personal political ambitions. There's some bravery that deserves to be acknowledged and understood. Sometimes doing the right thing comes at an important cost.
Read the rest, including the press release from the Franklin County GOP, at McCranium.
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May 7, '09
Did the mob wear brown shirts?
May 7, '09
I guess that they were too broke to mount a recall election?
What I fail to understand here is what is the huge deal? Here in Oregon I thought Dennis Richardson actually proposed civil union as a "separate but equal" alternative to same-sex marriage. If I'm wrong please let me know.
Sometimes small minded politics is like professional wrestling; you know the ugly outcome and the hysterionics, but watch anyway.
May 7, '09
"Did the mob wear brown shirts?"
I don't think so....it sounded more like they wore full black uniforms, black jack boots, and uptight attitudes.
May 7, '09
Thank God for George Bush and Karl Rove working so effectively over the past eight years to create the permanent republican minority.
May 7, '09
Doing what is right is seldom easy.
6:04 p.m.
May 7, '09
"What I fail to understand here is what is the huge deal? Here in Oregon I thought Dennis Richardson actually proposed civil union as a "separate but equal" alternative to same-sex marriage. If I'm wrong please let me know."
Haha, no. Richardson responded to the civil unions bill that eventually passed (which was introduced by Kotek and Brown, respectively, I believe) with a GOP Rights Lite version, granting a tiny subset of rights that the state confers on marrieds. It was a sham.
May 7, '09
It's a county of 50,000 people, almost half of whom are Hispanic. Sounds like a few people are attempting to speak for everyone in Franklin County who happens to be a republican. Shame shame.
Go Maureen! Thank you for voting your mind.
May 7, '09
While I have to agree, I have to play devil's advocate and ask if a little sensureship might not be good for Dems? Having a voting base uber alles is no better than buying respect.
May 8, '09