GOP won't allow Davis to talk at state convention

By Jim Brunner
Seattle Times staff reporter

ELLEN M. BANNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES U.S. Senate candidate Reed Davis speaks at a Pierce County Republican breakfast event in February.

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The decision was cemented during a meeting of the party's executive board Saturday, said Chris Vance, state Republican Party chairman.

"If Reed would simply follow the rules, like everyone else has to, we would let him talk," Vance said, referring to an agreement that other candidates scheduled to speak at the convention have signed.

Davis, a former King County GOP chairman, refuses to sign an agreement promising to obey the party's "11th commandment," which says Republicans should not speak ill of other Republicans.

The document says candidates should focus their wrath on Democrats and agree to publicly endorse whoever wins the Republican primary. Violators can be fined $5,000 at the discretion of the state party chairman and executive board.

Davis said he won't sign the pledge because he doesn't trust Vance and other party leaders to interpret it fairly.

The state party already has endorsed Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane, as its choice to challenge Democratic incumbent Sen. Patty Murray in November.

"We think the well has been poisoned. It is difficult to trust the group that is publicly committed to your defeat," said Davis, an associate professor at Seattle Pacific University.

The dispute sets up a possible confrontation at the party convention, which runs from May 27 to 29 in Bellevue.

Davis, who will be allowed inside the convention as a delegate, said he may try to get supporters to mount a floor challenge to win the chance to speak.

This isn't the first time the 11th commandment has stoked controversy. In 1996, conservative Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan refused to agree to abide by the rule and was denied a speaking slot at the state GOP convention by Ken Eikenberry, state party chairman at the time. Buchanan and his supporters staged their own rally outside the convention.
 
Some state GOP executive-board members stuck up for Davis at Saturday's meeting, but the final vote opposed letting him speak by more than a 2-to-1 ratio.

"I always come down on the side of openness. If a candidate is a bona fide candidate, he should be given the opportunity to speak to all delegates," said Michael Young, an executive-board member from the 7th Congressional District who voted in favor of letting Davis speak at the convention.

Young said he's a Nethercutt supporter but thought the party ought to go out of its way to be inclusive.

Bob Strauss, an executive-board member from the 8th Congressional District, described the hourlong debate as "thoughtful" and denied there was any bias against Davis. He said a majority simply felt Davis needed to sign the same agreement as other Republican candidates.

"There was no ulterior motive or anything sinister going on," said Strauss, who voted with the majority.

Both Strauss and Young said even if Davis signed the pledge, he probably wouldn't be fined for criticizing Nethercutt unless he resorted to personal attacks or name-calling.

Davis has cast himself as a "Ronald Reagan conservative" and criticized Nethercutt for being part of what he considers to be a free-spending Congress that has boosted the federal budget deficit to record levels.

"George Nethercutt does not believe the deficit is a problem," Davis said at the recent King County Republican convention — the only speaker there to criticize a Republican rival by name.

If Davis were to be fined, his campaign could scarcely afford the hit. He has raised less than $33,000 since announcing his candidacy last summer and his campaign account had less than $200 in the bank at the end of March, according to the most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission.

Nethercutt, by contrast, has tapped the support of the White House and national Republican leaders to raise $2.2 million through March.

Murray, the two-term incumbent, has raised nearly $8 million.

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com