Convention Diary, Day Two

What a whirlwind day. The day began with an attempt in the Young Republicans to get a resolution supporting closed primaries. The vote was not successful. I think, perhaps because a lot of information had not been given in advance, plus many of the participants were from Canyon County and Canyon County’s Youth Committeeman was against.

I was observing the Resolutions Committee where there were plenty of interesting issues. An Anti-Marijuana resolution was approved. One of the chief opponents was (liberals will be shocked) Rep. Steve Thayn (R-11). No, Thayn is not a pro-pot guy, but he is concerned that we’re incarcerating way too many non-violent drug offenders. He pointed out that per 100,000 people we imprison 9 times that of France. Wait, this can’t be right. From what I’ve read on liberal blogs, Thayn is little more than an intolerant neandrathal. Either the blogs are wrong, or Thayn is a well-meaning public servant who thinks through issues. Nah, must have been somebody else. In seriousness, Thayn will be writing a Minority Report and I’ll be interested to see what it looks like.

General Ben Doty’s resolution was approved supporting our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some people tried to argue with the General, but that didn’t go far.

I had a resolution proposed to have Idaho hold a Republican Presidential Caucus rather than a primary. It failed, but it gained enough votes to gain a trip to the convention floor as a Minority Report. Thanks to Rod Beck and Jennifer Pitano from Ada County for their support, as well as everyone else who made it possible for it to make the floor as a Minority Report that George Eskridge assigned me to write.

The committee then approved two measures relating to energy and gas price. I decided that given that people had so many questions about the Caucus Resolution, I needed to do more than submit the resolution, I needed to answer people’s objections. So, I accepted the offer of Dan Young to use his Sandpoint office. While I didn’t blog there, that he had a printer was quite helpful and I spent about an hour and a half tying up a solid report that addressed objections to moving to the Caucus.

When I returned, I reviewed the Report with a couple different people and then submitted it. We had a Scottish band scheduled, but because we ran over, we missed the band, but got to see some great Celtic dancers.

Then, I got to see an old acquaintance, Former Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT). The Senator didn’t seem on, though he provoked a few laughs. It was a party unity speech with an honest but downbeat tone about how we won’t recapture the Senate and won’t recapture the House, so we need John McCain despite our disagreements with him. When the crowd came to its feet was when Burns began talking about patriotism and sacrifices made. He pointed to a young boy in the front row and said this was about “that young’en down there.” While, I thought he should have stepped aside last time in order that the GOP could have a nominee without a cloud over his head, Conrad Burns is a fine man and a fine Republican. The pity was that he was exonerated a year too late.

Afterwards, I came up and met him and reminded him of our first meeting. November, 1993: A parade with Aaron Poff’s group, “Republicans March to the 21st century.” He was cordial and gracious as always.

Then Bill Sali spoke and he was extremely well-received. Sali began with a thankful flourish to Matt Salisbury, and then got into the heart of what he was about and what he was standing for in Washington. He brought us to our feet many times. Finally, he reminded us that no matter who wins the Chairmanship race, we need to unite after the convention’s over. On that point, I’m totally agreement.

I learned that while the Resolutions Committee was meeting, the Rules Committee approved a change to abolish the closed primary rule. This has to pass on the floor.

Meanwhile the Platform Committee passed a positive change encourage oil and gas exploration, as well as a solid one on energy policy. Also the committee voted for a plank calling for abolition of the federal reserve.

Other notes:

• Hats off to the committee for doing the right thing and insuring that Ron Paul supporters got their delegates. It’s the way it should be.
• There was the somewhat awkward situation of Rex Rammell. Rammell was at the convention with his large Campaign RV parked outside (later he moved across the street) as an Independent Candidate challenging Republican nominee Jim Risch. He was there as a guest. To be honest, it seemed a little surreal.
• I got to talk with District 17 Candidate Daniel Loughery. I’ve always seen him around the Central Committee as a classic good character. He’s really a positive presence in the room. I actually talked some policy. I began to talk to him about energy policy and I found out he was the expert. He pointed out the cost of the oil business is rarely considered. For example, it takes $20,000 per day to rent an oil rig if rigs are in low demand. In high demand, it runs about $100,000 a day and that’s before they’ve paid anybody to work it. Oil companies have to have large cash reserves to purchase millions of barrels of oil at the same time. If a company wants a million barrels, they better have $13o million on hand. The cost of getting oil is a story that’s not being told. He told me I needed to tell it. He did better, so I just quoted him. In all seriousness, it’s a fascinating tidbit, I’m going to continue to look into it even more.
• Jennifer Pitano was not only very helpful on the caucus resolution, she impressed me, not because I agreed with her on everything. In fact, several times I disagreed with her strongly. But she stood up and spoke her mind with confidence and without fear. That can be tough as she’s fairly young. On an amendment to strike for Nuclear Power from a resolution in favor of clean energy, she and one other lady were the only ones willing to oppose it. She takes her stand, and I have to admire that. Politics needs more of that and less backroom antics.
• Finally, I have to say that one of the true pleasures of this Convention is the ability to talk to the people who’ve been here a while. I had a great conversation with Dick Bauer, who has been at nearly every convention since 1964, and with another lady from Madison County who’d been coming about as long. There’s nothing quite like the experience, and I gained quite a bit of understanding from both of them. In efforts to make “change,” it’s a wise policy never to ignore the wisdom of those who’ve come before.