GOP event shows rift in Oregon factions

[BigLed]

I read this at work today in the Portland Oregonian. Seems a few of the Oregon old time moderate Republicans are voicing their dissent with the right wing shenanigans by the Mannix crowd. I especially like it that they wanted to charge Clay Myers $250 to be a featured guest.

I hope there are more and more of these guys out there throughout the nation. Taking Bush out with an 80/20 vote would be so invigorating and we need the true moderates repubs to make it happen. Anyway, a bit of good news from an unexpected place.

http://www.oregonlive.com/public_life/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/106431818542490.xml

"A Friday fund-raiser honoring Oregon's "Republican heritage," including former statewide leaders such as Clay Myers and Bill Rutherford, should raise tens of thousands of dollars for the party, Chairman Kevin Mannix said Monday.

Problem is, neither Myers nor Rutherford want anything to do with the event, even though their names are heralded in the formal invitations.

Myers -- a moderate Republican who was secretary of state when Tom McCall was governor -- is boycotting it because he thinks the party has moved too far to the right, abandoning it's progressive roots. Rutherford, another moderate who served as state treasurer, says "they hijacked my name" and that he didn't even know about the event until he got invited to attend -- for a $250 donation."

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[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. As a former Oregonian, all I can say is...

BWA-HA-HA!

It's sad to think about how the Republicans in Oregon have mutated into hate-filled greedheads. Thirty years ago, they pioneered concepts such as required bottle returns, keeping the entire coastline open to the public, and regulating land use to keep urban sprawl under control. In other words, they used to be responsible.

No wonder the old-tikmers don't want anything to do with the Mannix crowd.

[BigLed]

2. It's sad

how Oregon politics has gone so far downhill since the days you talk about. Oregon has been a testing ground for all the tactics we see everywhere, such as in the California recall. Outside money from such as Grover Norquist corrupted the Republican Party here. With our citizen initiatives requiring so few signatures that could easily be acquired by paid signature gatherers they came here first.

Maybe the worm will turn if the good guys in the Republican Party will stand up to the repukes in charge.

[roguevalley]

3. I hope so. Oregon in the sixties and seventies was the

best place on earth to be progressive. I hope it
gets that way again.