What a spectacular way to kick off the new year by having our own Skagit County Republican Party member and Precinct Committee Officer, Keith Wagoner being appointed as the state's newest Senator. Last month by vote in Arlington Keith was selected as the top PCO choice for the LD 39 seat and then on January 3rd Keith was unanimously appointed Legislative District 39 Senator (replacing the resigning Kirk Pearson) by the joint Skagit County Commissioners, Snohomish County Council and King County Council governing officials.
Big Congratulations Keith, we are very happy and proud of you! You have proven to be a very honest, ethical, capable and effective elected official at the local levels, we know you will do a great job in Olympia and be an excellent representative for your constituents.
Also congratulations to other good Republicans who won recent local elections in November; Anacortes City Council Member Matt Miller, Burlington City Council Members Joe Degloria and James Stavig, La Conner Town Council Member Bill Stokes, Mount Vernon City Council Member Gary Molenaar, Sedro-Woolley City Council Member Jared Couch and others. We are all really proud of your hard work and public service!
One of the SCRP's next goals will be to help replace Keith Wagoner as Sedro-Woolley Mayor. Our obvious first choice is Julia Johnson. Julia is a former SCRP member and current Sedro-Woolley City Council Member who is very well respected. Of special note: Julia's son Eric is a SCRP member, PCO and part of our Executive Board Team; additionally Eric was just elected in November to the Sedro-Woolley School Board.
Regarding helping to choose state legislators; it will be hard to top what the Washington State Republican PCO's did in 2017 as six special PCO elections took place. In Legislative District 31 Phil Fortunato (the PCO's first choice) was appointed State Senator, and Morgan Irwin (the PCO's first choice) was appointed State House Representative. In Legislative District 7 Shelly Short (the PCO's first choice) was appointed as State Senator and Jacquelin Maycumber (the PCO's first choice) was appointed as the State House Representative. As mentioned; in Legislative District 39 Keith Wagoner (the PCO's first choice) was appointed State Senator, and in Legislative District 39 Carolyn Eslick (the PCO's third choice) was appointed as the state House Representative.
Just to confirm what a special job the PCO's did in helping to directly participate in the appointment process of Republican party members to the state legislature in 2017; Phil Fortunato, Morgan Irwin, Shelly Short and Jacquelin Maycumber all won by huge margins as the Legislative District voting constituents reaffirmed the PCO's first choices in each of their respective elections.
SCRP Executive Board member Tina Champeaux-Wolne is expected to be Keith Wagoner's Skagit County LD 39 campaign manager for the 2018 general election. Currently Tina is brushing up on her skills and is participating in a very well respected campaign school from the Evergreen Campaign Institute over the next several months. Mrs. Champeaux-Wolne will also be assisting with our upcoming PCO trainings later in the year.
Many of us were very surprised to hear that Susan Hutchinson will be stepping down as State Party Chairman. Mrs. Hutchinson has done a phenomenal job over the last 5 years and she will be mist, she has truly been a blessing to the WSRP. We thank Susan for her leadership, toughness, dedication and longtime service to the GOP and wish her well with her next endeavor! At the State Central Committee meeting in a few weeks at Moses Lake we will be voting for her replacement. Caleb Heimlich, the WSRP Executive Director for the past 8 years is the clear front runner.
Our next PCO meeting will be on Thursday, January 18th at 7 PM. Just prior to that at 6 PM we will have an Executive Board meeting (all are welcome). Tim Howland who is the Sedro-Woolley School District Board Levy Committee Chair, will be presenting, explaining and taking questions about the upcoming 79.5 million dollar bond proposal that will be voted on February 13th. The bond Levy vote effects, Sedro-Woolley, Big Lake, Clear Lake, Lyman, Samish, Cascade and several other county area schools. Mr. Howland is a former SCRP PCO and also will be asking to help "get the vote out" as well as asking for a formal endorsement from our county party.
As the GOP moves into 2018 we need to give the Trump Administration credit when credit is due, since inauguration: The economy is absolutely booming, over 1.5 million new jobs have been created, consumer confidence is up and unemployment is down, we just had the busiest Christmas retail shopping season in history, the stock market is at an all time high (now over 25,000, up 5,000 plus points) and hit 84 all time record highs in 2017, historic tax reform has been passed lowering taxes for over 90% of American families; Justice Neil Gorsuch was appointed to SCOTUS, a dozen new Federal Appellate Court judges have been appointed; ISIS is being completely decimated and Raqqa is now liberated, the Iran deal was de-certified, the great Iranian people are being supported as by the hundreds of thousands they protest against their oppressive dictator; illegal boarder crossings are down over 70 %, a $1.6 billion dollar down payment was passed by Congress to build the southern boarder wall, MS-13 gangs are being targeted and eliminated; 22 regulations have been cut for every new one, Obama Executive orders were rolled back, the Obamacare individual mandate has been repealed; the U.S. trade deficit shrank, coal exports are up 60 %, American energy independence is being accomplished (drilling in ANWR after 40 years of trying); North Korea was designated as a state-sponsor of terrorism, Israel's capital of Jerusalem was put back on the map, helped to put CHRISTmas back into the Christmas holiday; our military is being rebuilt; both NATO and the United Nations have been asked to start paying their fair share, etc. Not to mention, last month while playing a round of golf with a former PGA professional on a Championship course, Donald Trump sunk two 50 foot putts!
The bottom line is that our President has kept his campaign promises and our country and the world is much safer. Despite having to deal with the extreme bias of the liberal media and the incredibly entrenched post Obama / Pro Hillary era bureaucratic administrative state (as well as a purely evil deep state), Donald Trump and his administration has started to help pull our country back to Conservatism. Trump and his GOP team are implementing many proven successful Republican polices and this is a very good thing and bodes well for 2018 and beyond.
Congratulations to the new Skagit County Republican Party Precinct Committee Officers and Precinct Captains who were appointed the past few months; Grey Wonderly (148 Rockport), Donna Rak (304 Mount Vernon), George Wolner (Sedro-Woolley 408), and Earl Long (601 Concrete). Welcome and thank you for stepping up and taking on the important roll of the PCO!
Respect & Blessings,
Bill Bruch, SCRP Chairman
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