GOP talks fiscal responsibility in Adams County

RITZVILLE -

Adams County Republicans met Saturday night in Ritzville for their annual Lincoln dinner at the American Legion Memorial Building.  All press in attendance from outside of Adams County were barred from the proceedings, but folks leaving the dinner were pleased with the goings-on inside.

Many of the state's top Republican leaders were on hand at the event in Adams County which, despite its small size (pop. 16,428), is one of the GOP's greatest strongholds. In 2004 the county went for Attorney General Rob McKenna over his Democratic opponent Deborah Senn by a 70%-28% margin, the widest of any county in the state.

The dinner, advertised as a showcase for the region's country flair, either saw or heard from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Attorney General Rob McKenna, state GOP Chair Luke Esser, gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, and a number of prominent local Republicans.

Those in attendance found appeal in the candidates' appeals for fiscal responsibility. Jake Harder, a local rancher whose family has been on the land since the days of open range and who helped to organize a local volunteer effort to construct much of the building where the dinner took place, said of the dinner, "it was great. I liked the stress on fiscal responsibility. I eat that up." Harder went on to call the GOP slate of candidates a "good, solid set of folks" after admitting he was there to see the whole group, not any particular speaker.

Dale Anderson of Ritzville echoed Harder's comments.  "I like the way these people react to the fact that we're spending way too much money, and we need to be fiscally responsible for what our taxes are in Washington D.C. and Olympia, and if we do that," he said, "we'll all be happy."