Flynn's Harp: Can conference help re-energize state GOP? (1-6-10)

Over the nearly five decades since what’s now the nation’s oldest grassroots political conference was established by Republican leaders in Oregon, GOP fortunes that once flowed in that state have ebbed dramatically in recent years.

Now leading Republicans in this state, where party fortunes have pretty much mirrored Oregon’s, are seeking to emulate the party camaraderie and broad-tent discussion of issues that characterize the Dorchester Conference with their own gathering later this month.

The hope of organizers of the Roanoke Conference, which will take place at Ocean Shores Jan. 29-31, is that an opportunity to gather in a social setting while discussing issues will energize a broad demographic of Republicans.

In fact, at a time when broadened appeal is vital to the future success of the GOP in this state,

The Roanoke Conference, named for the Mercer Island tavern at which all manner of strategy sessions and philosophical discussions have occurred for decades over beer and hamburgers, is the brainchild of Steven Buri, executive director of the Discovery Institute.

Buri, who was an aide to former Sen. Slade Gorton, says he has long felt the need for Republicans in Washington to have a gathering like the Dorchester Conference, which was named for a Lincoln City hotel where the founding 1964 conference was held.

In fact, at a time when broadened appeal may be vital to the future success of the GOP in this state, Buri and others are seeking to attract a diverse group of attendees, including university students and minorities. Part of the hope is that attendees sharing concerns and ideas with Republican legislators and leaders could prompt emergence of some future candidates for elective office.

The GOP in both Northwest states finds its standing at low tide a year after the re-election of Democratic governors and legislatures in which Democratic control of both houses moved toward two-thirds majorities.

Buri’s vision is “the need for a gathering of Republicans of all stripes on the broad themes of free market, limited government and individual liberties, a focus on the core principles that most Republicans agree on.”

Both Washington Atty. Gen. Rob McKenna and Buri’s old boss, Slade Gorton, strongly support Buri’s goal and will be on the program.

Though many Republicans will bemoan the current divisiveness and low point of their political fortunes in the wake of what happened nationally with the election of Barack Obama and the overwhelming success of Democrats in Congressional races, Gorton will be an intriguing reminder of what came out of another Republican debacle.

That debacle was the 1964 presidential campaign in which Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater was caught in a political tsunami by Lyndon Johnson. Republicans in Congress, state legislatures and State Houses were swept out of office by the flood.

Two years later, a carefully choreographed Republican strategy in which new faces were convinced to run for the legislature resulted in a surprise GOP majority in the Washington House and gains in the Senate. Gorton served as House majority leader, a position that provided a launch pad for his later roles as state attorney general, then U.S. senator.

History doesn’t necessarily repeat itself. But opportunity frequently does. And thus it may be in 2010 for Republicans. A number of long-time GOP leaders understands that, but are frustrated by the ideological divisions that haunt the party.

Ralph Munro, who served as Washington’s secretary of state for 20 years  before deciding not to run for a sixth term, is in-your-face with his comment that “the party has to broaden its base if it expects to win in Washington State.”

“Until the party decides it has to go after some mainstream issues, it’s not going to win,” says Munro, who plans to be on hand at the Roanoke Conference gathering.

Perhaps more compelling is the observation of Bill Witt, a transplanted Oregonian who was a Republican leader in that state’s legislature and twice candidate for Congress, losing in his final race by 301 votes in a recount out of 250,000 votes cast.

Witt ended his political career to move to the Seattle area to oversee his Witt Company office products company, which has outlets up and down the West Coast.

Witt, who attended a number of Dorchester Conferences, says he thinks “a similar concept could be beneficial here, provided no one ideological faction tries to control it.”

Witt even has a plan for how a Washington conference could prove beneficial.

“There should be a broadly arranged board (moderates, conservatives, pro-life, pro-gun, fiscal conservatives, etc.) primarily consisting of non-elected individuals,” Witt suggested. “The purpose should be to discuss issues, bring Republican’s together, and promote Republican candidates.

“Certainly there are tremendous opportunities for Republicans in Washington,” Witt added.” However, to succeed, Republicans need active involvement and enthusiastic support from many, many people.”

And beginning that process of appeal to a broader audience is what the Roanoke Conference is intended to achieve, as Buri and other supporters see it.