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As a conservative Republican and president of the Ada County Lincoln Day Association and the District 19 legislative chairwoman and precinct committeewoman for Precinct 1913, Im deeply dismayed by the lack of voices from the right directly condemning our lieutenant governors recent appearance at white nationalist conference, sharing the roster with known Holocaust deniers and antisemitic agitators.

As U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, there is no place for white supremacy or antisemitism in the Republican Party.

As a Jewish woman, I grew up learning from those who served in World War II and the consequences of the Holocaust were instilled in me at a young age and deepened my faith. Being Jewish to me means we can never take for granted our long history as survivors. Our horrifying near-extinction at the hands of Nazi Germany and its allies is all too real, and to deny this history is unforgiveable.

Sometimes, people are earnestly curious about Jewish people and culture, and are open to conversations. Because there are so few of us, most Idahoans simply know very little about us. But the Holocaust didnt happen out of nowhere. Antisemitism often begins in understated ways, with subtle slurs and coded phrases, or in more explicit pejorative graffiti like weve seen recently along the Boise Greenbelt and at the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial.

Even more rare than Jewish Idahoans are Jewish members of the Idaho Republican Party. My involvement in the Idaho GOP has raised a few eyebrows over the years, but to me, conservative support of Israel, a tenet of the Republican platform since the early 1990s, is central to my political and Jewish identities. Israel is a beacon of hope, the only true democracy in the Middle East that upholds freedom, democracy and personal choice.

I am deeply dismayed to see the escalating dehumanization of Israel and the Jewish people from the extreme wings of both the right and left, including the endorsements of McGeachin by the likes of those who McGeachin has surrounded herself with, like Vincent James Foxx, a white supremacist, Vladimir Putin supporter and Holocaust denier. Its appalling that Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin would participate as a speaker at a white nationalist event like AFPAC. Its unimaginable to me that a sitting statewide official and candidate for Idaho governor would attend let alone speak at a white nationalist conference led by the likes of Nick Fuentes, James Foxx, and others who espouse political violence, the purity of the white race, and antisemitism.

Countering the political normalization of antisemitism and white nationalism starts by recognizing the deep history of prejudice against the Jewish people and how antisemitic conspiracies seek to undermine the America we are so proud of. Naming the scourge of antisemitism requires constant vigilance from all of us and should be modeled by our elected leaders.Republicans must demand a basic standard of decency from our political candidates and elected officials. Janice McGeachin is falling far below those standards now: the company she keeps is repugnant, and her openness to anti-Semitic and anti-democracy worldviews is, simply, disqualifying. I invite my fellow conservatives to join me in calling for her resignation.

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As a conservative Republican, I'm deeply dismayed at lack of voices from GOP condemning McGeachin - Idaho Capital Sun

Over the weekend, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., threw out an enticing coinage for some of the most flagrant supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Republican Party: The "Putin wing."

Cheney was specifically reacting to Douglas MacGregor, who was appointed to be a senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense by Donald Trump, and on Fox Business said that Russian forces invading Ukraine were being "too gentle." Most folks, however, took Cheney's new term to be much broader than that to encompass Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson of Fox News, and any Republicans who were praising Putin before it became suddenly unfashionable to do so approximately two weeks ago. Most of those folks are, reluctantly, claiming disapproval of the invasion of Ukraine, but are likely biding their time until outrage subsides and they can start pushing a pro-Putin line again. Indeed, Carlson has already started to test the waters by accusing the U.S. of victimizing Russia with a "disinformation campaign".

So the problem with Cheney's formulation is that to talk about a "Putin wing" of the GOP implies there is a substantive wing of the GOP that is anti-Putin. But outside of a few Republicans like herself that have turned their backs completely on Trump, that's simply not the case.

Oh, sure, there are lots of Republicans who talk a big game about how they support Ukraine and oppose the Russian dictator. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy even made a big show of declaring, "I do not think anything's savvy or genius about Putin," a direct refutation of Trump's repeated application of both words to the Russian leader he clearly has a crush on. McCarthy is known for his shameless boot-licking of Trump, so he was no doubt aware that this would result in "man bites dog" coverage that would make him appear anti-Putin without him having to make any changes to GOP actions that are, in reality, supportive of Putin's hostility to Ukraine and to democracy in general.

RELATED: Lt. Col. Alex Vindman: How Trump's coup attempt encouraged Putin's Ukraine invasion

When we look away from the pretty words to those actual actions, the picture looks bleak indeed.

At best, Republicans will side with Putin's interests if doing so will undermine President Joe Biden and the Democratic party. Lookno further than the bad faith GOP campaign over gas prices. As Dana Milbank of the Washington Post explained Wednesday, "For days, Republicans called for a ban on imports of Russian oil," but the second that Biden heeded their demands, they pivoted to "blaming his energy policies for spiking gas prices."

In one sense, this is standard GOP sabotage. We saw it under Barack Obama, where Republicans undermined the passage of a more robust economic bailout package, and then campaigned against Obama by blaming him for the sluggish recovery they caused. We saw an even darker version of this in the past year, with Republicans sabotaging Biden's attempts to end the pandemic by convincing their followers not to vaccinate, all so they can run against Biden's "failure" to end the pandemic. Pressuring Biden to pass a policy that everyone knows will raise gas prices, and then campaigning against him on those rising gas prices is standard operating procedure for the GOP.

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But, in doing so, they are giving a huge assist to Putin, by letting him off the hook for the economic fallout his invasion of Ukraine is causing.

McCarthy in particular has been eager to carry Putin's water on this front, declaring bluntly that these "aren't Putin prices," but are instead "President Biden's prices." This isn't just a lie. This is a lie that, Milbank explains, is "sowing division at home and giving a rhetorical boost to the enemy at a perilous moment when national unity and sacrifice will be needed to prevail against Russia." Given a choice between backing Putin's play and scoring points on Biden, Republicans picked the former.It's all the more reason to view surface-level anti-Putin rhetoric from Republicans as glib bad faith that will likely, in due time, give way toaccommodating Trump's obvious preference, which is a robust pro-Russia and anti-democracy stance.

We've been down this road so many times before, where Republicans initially resist Trump's horrible views but eventually come around. We saw it with Covid-19, where an initial Republican willingness to embrace pandemic mitigation swiftly turned into the rejection of even the most basic measures, all because then-president Trump thought acknowledging the reality of the pandemic would hurt his re-election chances. We saw it again with Trump's January 6 insurrection. Initially, most Republicans were freaked out and angry about it, but in short order, they were covering up Trump's crimes by voting against his impeachment and trying to shut down any House investigation into the attack.

RELATED:Ignore the GOP's sudden pivot, Republicans have long worked to undermine Ukraine

We've even been down this road with Putin and his aggression towards Ukraine before. Republicans were initially willing to take seriously the strong signs that the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russian government to spread disinformation about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election. They even went so far as to appoint a special counsel Robert Muellerto investigate the claims. But by the time Mueller's report was ready to come out, Republicans were in full cover-up mode, backing then-attorney general Bill Barr's strategy of burying the report's findings through delays and spin.

And when Trump tried to blackmailUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by threatening to withhold military aid unless Zelenskyy falsified evidence to smear Biden with, Republicans had Trump's back, voting against impeachment and undermining the process of holding him accountable at every turn. Instead, both Fox News and GOP leadership started to float Russian-generated conspiracy theories incoherently accusing Ukraine's government of "interfering" with elections, all to keep the heat off both Putin and Trump. As Heather "Digby" Parton notes, "Putin even joked at one point that he was glad the world was finally blaming Ukraine instead of him."

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And as Donie O'Sullivan at CNN reports, now some conservatives are embracing a Russia-generated conspiracy theory claiming "the United States is developing bioweapons in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin has stepped in to save the day and destroy the weapons." The conspiracy theory bubbled up in the world of QAnon, but like most of these far-right conspiracy theories, it's making its way to the mainstream GOP rapidly. Carlson's show Wednesday night was largely dedicated to pushing this conspiracy theory that paints Ukraine as villains in cahoots with the Biden administration, and Putin as the hero. Even more troublingly, he used a clip of Florida's Republican Sen. Marco Rubio questioningVictoria Nuland, Biden's Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, to hype this conspiracy theory.In the clip, Rubio's line of questioningseems about debunking the conspiracy theory. He even explicitly uses the term "Russian propaganda." Nonetheless, the clip went viral in pro-Russia circles, because Rubio opened the line of questioning by asking, "does Ukraine have chemical or biological weapons," prompting Nuland to say, "Ukraine has biological research facilities" and the U.S. is "working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces." The clip is now being spread around, including by Carlson, as evidence that the Ukrainians are the bad guys and the U.S. is covering up this supposed nefarious biological weapons development scheme.

RELATED:Trump's Ukraine call was referred to DOJ as possible crime. Barr's team shut it down

Perhaps Rubio was unaware that this clip would be used this way. If so, it's the second time this week that Rubio had an "oopsie" when it comes to Ukraine and Russia. Over the weekend, Rubio tweeted out a photo of a Zoom meeting Congress had with Zelenskyy, even though they were explicitly asked not to, in order to protect the Ukrainian president from what appears to be a relentless campaign by Russian forces to kill him. The photo islikely not a direct threat to Zelenskyy any longer, but Rubio still doesn't have the decency to take it down as a show of good faith.

Whatever Rubio's intentions, the pattern is hard to ignore: Republicans are careless at best when it comes to Ukraine, and when it comes to propagandists like Carlson who always seem to end up setting the party's agenda it's more like open sabotage of the embattled democracy.

Even the GOP's anti-vaccine strategy is coming back to hurt the Ukrainian cause. A Navy ship the U.S. wishes to deploy, likely to support NATO defenses in European waters, is being stalled because a Republican judge won'tlet the Biden administration remove the commanding officer. The officer lost the trust of the government and his crew by being an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist. "Anti-vaxx nut" is apparently a protected class to Republicans now, so they're willing to tank national security in order to perpetuate this conspiracy theory.

Republicans are making their priorities clear. Sure, they say they believe in Ukraine's fight for democracy and sovereignty, but they're not willing to do much to stand up for that cause, especially if doing so means playing nice with Biden or, at the very least, not giving wild-eyed Putin lovers grist for their mills. It's the same problem we've seen with Republicans and Trump for years. Sure, some of them will criticize him or, however briefly, push back against some of his nuttier ideas. But when push comes to shove, Republicans will always stand by Trump's side, even though he literally attempted to overthrow American democracy. So why shouldn't they have the same approach to Putin's attempts to overthrow Ukrainian democracy?

Read more:
There is no "Putin wing" of the GOP: Why almost no Republican backs Ukraine over Russia - Salon

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WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Rep. Blake Moore has been appointed to the House Republican Whip Team, responsible for rallying GOP support on issues of import and maintaining party discipline.

The freshman lawmaker, running for reelection this cycle, will serve as an assistant whip, aiding House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, a Louisiana congressman.

It is imperative that House Republicans are united in our efforts to push legislation that promotes fiscal responsibility, supports our military and veterans, strengthens our national security, fights for energy independence and more, Moore said in a statement on Thursday.

Scalise lauded Moores servants heart. The Utah lawmaker will play a vital role in helping House Republicans reverse President (Joe) Biden and (House) Speaker (Nancy) Pelosis self-made crises that are hurting millions of families, workers and small businesses across the country.

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U.S. Rep. Blake Moore joins House Republican Whip Team - Standard-Examiner

The people want legal marijuana; only a handful of business interests and ideologies which ignore facts remain standing in the way towards progress. But even Republicans are starting to wake up to the changing status quo.

When questioned about marijuana reform on Wisconsin Public Radio, Republican state Rep. Jim Steineke admitted that the state is on its way towards reform, despite Republican heel-digging. Obviously other states throughout the country are moving in that direction. I think that's likely the direction at some point with the state of Wisconsin, Rep. Steineke said.

This comes as anew pollby Marquette University Law School found that 61% of Wisconsin residents want legal marijuana. It is the highest level of support ever recorded by Marquette for marijuana.

In 2013, when the question was first asked of respondents, only 50% were in favor of legalization. In the last decade, not only did outward support increase, but so did undecided responses. Proponents of illegal marijuana shrank from 45% to 31% today.

Democrats saw an increase in support, from 53% to 75% in favor of legal weed over a decade; but Republicans saw the more significant progress. At its lowest, Republican support for cannabis reform was as low as 29%. In this new poll, for the first time in Marquette Laws surveys, a majority of Republicans wants legal marijuana. The majority is slim, just 51%, but it is more than ever before, as it goes against the Republican Partys promise to maintain the illegal status of marijuana.

It is not so surprising to see rising, soon-to-be overwhelming support for cannabis reform, after Wisconsin residents voteden massefor legalization in 2018. The advisory referendums of 2018 saw nearly 1 million votes cast, more than 60% of which were in favor of legal marijuana. In Milwaukee County, 70% of voters explicitly wanted legalized, taxed and regulated recreational marijuana.

This wind of change among public opinion has been reflected in the fact that Wisconsin saw attempts by Republican lawmakers to reform cannabis laws. Just last month, a dozen Republicans in the state Legislature, led by Sen. Mary Felzkowski, introduceda billaiming to partially legalize medical marijuana in Wisconsin.

This is not a Republican issue and this is not a Democrat issue, said Felzkowski in defense of her bill. When you look at the map of states where medical marijuana is legal, you will see conservative states like Florida and South Dakota and more liberal states like California and New York offering a compassionate option for those who need relief. It is time to have the conversation in the state of Wisconsin.

However, as evidenced by the fact that Democrats vowed to legalize marijuana and republicans vowed to keep it illegal, this sentiment does not reflect reality. Wisconsin Republican lawmakers have even demonstrated a willingness to set the engine of progress to reverse: They introduced and subsequently passed a regressive bill that would increase the maximum penalty for simple, non-violent possession of a personal-use amount of marijuana from 3.5 years in prison to a whopping 15 years of incarceration. Gov. Tony Evers had toveto it.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos himselfdeclaredin the past that [the Legislature is] not going to legalize recreational marijuana. The only form of marijuana supported by the Republican establishment has long been the most repressive and regressive form of it: marijuana pills, manufactured and sold for profit by healthcare corporations, difficult to access and expensive.

I think its more likely that legalization occurs when it comes to medical marijuana, using it for the purposes of alleviating pain and treating some illnesses, Rep. Steineke added. Recreational marijuana, I think, has a much tougher path to get through the Legislature and eventually signed into law, but I do think were headed in that direction. Its just finding the right legislation that is tight enough to pass.

It seems likely that cannabis reform will come in two steps in Wisconsin, starting with medical marijuana before even considering recreational use. Most states follow the same pattern, and it serves to ease into a new status quo. However, it is now obvious that Republican lawmakers are abundantly aware of the public opinions perception of marijuana. They even recognize the inevitability of legalization. The question is what form cannabis reform will take: Will it be the progressive Democrat version, or will it be the anemic Republican version?

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Republican Obstructionism Cannot Impede the March of History - Shepherd Express

I want to thank The Chronicle for their March 7 and 8 articles that clarified some of the campaign ad accusations made by Hiedi St. John against Joe Kent in the 3rd Congressional District race. I hear conservatives call The Chronicle a bunch of liberal leftists and liberals call them right wing radicals, and I sure don't agree with everything printed, but I consider it a pretty fair, moral paper doing a good job in a divided country.

The monthly Republican Precinct Committee Meeting March 7 in Winlock was a special committee meeting to vote on whether to make an exception to bylaws that prevent endorsing anyone other than the current incumbent in a primary election. On Feb. 7, precinct committee officers (PCOs) requested a vote to endorse Joe Kent and all PCOs received notification of the subsequent vote. Lewis County has 96 total precinct positions: 34 are vacant and 42 showed up to vote, the majority demanding a vote by secret ballot. Sixteen voted yes, 27 voted no.

I have been attending these Republican meetings since March 2021 after the fraudulent 2020 election shocked me into doing something. It took a lot of phone calls to contact the local Republican party. Three PCOs said they hadn't attended meetings for a year or two. One senior person told me we lay-people needed to stay out of politics and let experienced people like her decide elections. Another longtime precinct official said in written correspondence to not even to use the term RINO (Republican In Name Only).

I don't care what label is used, but when our elected representatives hide their votes from us and vote to maintain the status quo, in this case, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler's program, then they are supporting what Rep. Herrera Beutler has allowed to happen: inflation, open borders, crime, government overreach and now possibly war.

I'm told, two years ago, the Republican meetings had 10 to 15 attendees. Last Monday, the cars filled the parking lot, the railroad right of way, and extended all the way down the main street of Winlock. The annual Lincoln Day Dinner, organized by Rachel Anderson, chair of the Lewis County Young Republicans, generated a seven-fold increase in what the party brought in compared to past years. People want to get involved and are looking for ways to bring back the America we used to know.

Carla Askew chairs the Lewis County Republican PCO Recruitment Committee. Becoming a PCO is a good way to influence our government at the ground level. She invites anyone interested in becoming a PCO to call her at 360-901-6331. Those 34 vacant positions are important in this year's elections.

And you sure do find out a lot about who's doing what in Lewis County politics including your own PCO.

Linda Clark

Onalaska

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Letter to the Editor: 'Don't Say RINO' and Other Thoughts From a Lewis County Republican - Centralia Chronicle