GOP leaders reject litmus test for party backing
(AP) — State Republican Party leaders voted Wednesday to oppose requiring GOP candidates across the country to adhere to certain policy views if they want campaign assistance.
The vote on the resolution was unanimous among the 30 or so state party chairmen and chairwomen attending the first day of the Republican National Committee's winter meeting, Hawaii GOP Chairman Jonah Kaauwai said.
The vote is not binding on the RNC, which is expected to consider the resolution during its general session Friday.
More conservative committee members are pushing the resolution as a way for the party to present candidates who are clearly distinguishable from Democrats. It would require GOP candidates to take conservative positions on a number of hot-button issues, such as abortion, climate change and health care reform, to gain the party's financial support.
RNC Chairman Michael Steele said he opposes the resolution because it would diminish the authority of state parties.
"Every community should have responsibility for deciding who best represents their values, their interests, their principles. I trust them to do that. It is not the business of the RNC," Steele said. "Ronald Reagan would be ashamed if the party moved in that direction."
Kaauwai said the state leaders have an "overwhelming understanding" that Sen.-elect Scott Brown, the Massachusetts Republican who won a surprise victory in a special election, could not have met the resolution's requirements. The party leaders also believe it would deny flexibility to them and to the national party, Kaauwai said.
"As the state party leaders, we know what is best for our states," he said.
A Republican candidate for a special congressional election in Hawaii, Charles Djou, may not meet all of the resolution's requirements either, Kaauwai said.
Another RNC member from Hawaii, Miriam Hellreich, has called the idea behind the resolution "rather silly."
"We have to be very, very careful about setting a litmus test of any sort for what Republican candidates we're going to support," Hellreich said.
Ron Nehring, the California state party chairman and the chairman of the state chairs' group, said GOP primaries are where candidate positions should be discussed.
"The power to nominate candidates and chose our candidates lies with our members out in the states, not with a group in Washington, D.C.," Nehring said.
The resolution's author is James Bopp, an RNC vice chairman from Indiana. He was not immediately available for comment.
The 168-member RNC is meeting at a Waikiki hotel after election victories in Massachusetts, Virginia and New Jersey but amid internal turmoil over party policies and its controversial chairman.
On Friday the committee may consider a resolution that criticizes Steele's new book, in which he offers a blueprint for party success and finds fault in the party and in its leadership following the Reagan administration.
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