The Pacific County Republicans held their regular monthly meeting in South Bend last Thursday, March 2, where they discussed upcoming events and state and county GOP strategy moving forward.
New party chair Aaragon Markwell presented an idea, which he said was in the rough draft stage, for vetting local candidates seeking to run as Republicans.
"Just like an employment situation, have them fill out an application and kind of figure out who are they, what do they really believe," explained Markwell. "Because anybody can say that they're anything, and sometimes that can be detrimental to the party if somebody wants to run as a Republican but is three shades of crazy."
Markwell said such a vetting process would focus on whether the candidate is in agreement with both the county and state GOP platforms, as well as on the candidate's character and reputation within the community.
In speaking of a post-election analysis meeting held with failed gubernatorial candidate Bill Bryant, Markwell noted that Indian reservations throughout the state remain Democratic strongholds and expressed doubts that Republicans will be able to make inroads into the Native American demographic anytime soon.
Suggestions that Bryant's candidacy was hurt by his lack of endorsement of then presidential candidate Donald Trump were denied by Markwell, who noted that Bryant did far better with voters within the state than did Trump.
"He chose not to endorse Trump, and ... that didn't really hurt him," Markwell stated.
Bryant spent about $3.85 million on his campaign statewide compared to approximately $8.97 million spent by incumbent Democrat Jay Inslee, according to figures presented by Markwell.
In order for Republican Party candidates to be able to secure statewide offices in the future, Markwell said the number of Republican voters will have to be increased with special emphasis placed on campaigning at the county level.
"Bill [Bryant] brought this out in our gathering: The Democratic Party really never stops being in campaign mode. ... They're gearing up right now for 2020. ... We have got to have a fundamental shift in the way we look at elections," said Markwell.
Markwell described Rep. Jim Walsh's win of a 19th Legislative District seat as shattering a glass ceiling and said it should be the number one objective of Pacific County Republicans to work for Walsh's re-election.
Turning to Initiative 1552, which seeks to reverse a court decision allowing restrooms, locker rooms, and changing facilities to be used by anyone based on gender expression, as opposed to a person's biological sex, Markwell indicated he is helping with the campaign for the initiative within Pacific County. He said a bare minimum of 259,000 gathered signatures are needed for the initiative to appear on the ballot, though 325,000 is a more ideal figure.
"What we're trying to do with this initiative is to reverse that ruling, make schools so that their locker rooms and bathrooms are gender specific, and then allow the private sector to make their own decisions," explained Markwell.
On the subject of the party's annual Lincoln Day Dinner, Markwell said volunteers are needed for invitations, set-up, kitchen work, and clean-up among other duties. Radio personality David Boze is scheduled to appear as the event's keynote speaker, and an AR-15 rifle may be raffled off in ironic mockery of State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who has proposed a ban on such weapons.
Markwell further stated he has requested the presence of off duty police officers at the Lincoln Day Dinner due to incidents of disruption at comparable gatherings elsewhere.
Toward the close of the meeting discussion turned to issues of federal policy regarding illegal aliens. Pacific County Prosecutor Mark McClain, who was present, opined that federal immigration officials are highly unlikely to get involved in broadly and aggressively pursuing those here illegally, even in cases where they have been accused of crimes. McClain explained that those here illegally who opt to dispute their deportation after serving a sentence for a crime are typically released on bond while they await the processing of their case.